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Key Takeaways

• The Pets Table uses gently cooked, thoughtfully sourced ingredients instead of heavily processed fillers.
• Meal plans are tailored to your dog’s age, weight, activity level, and dietary needs.
• Choose Fresh, Air-Dried, or a mix, and try it with a two-week trial box and money-back guarantee.

If you’re still feeding your dog traditional kibble, it might be time to take a closer look at what’s actually in their bowl and whether it’s meeting the same standards you expect for your own food. Many conventional dog foods are highly processed, made with lower-quality ingredients, and designed more for shelf life than nutritional value.

That’s why more pet parents are turning to services like The Pets Table. Brought to you by HelloFresh, it offers personalized meal plans made with real ingredients, tailored to your dog’s specific needs, and delivered directly to your door. The goal is simple: Make it easier to feed your dog high-quality food without adding complexity to your routine.

Why a Personalized Dog Food Delivery Service Could Be Right for You

The Pets Table is a personalized dog food delivery service designed to make feeding your dog high-quality meals simple, convenient, and surprisingly affordable. It’s not just another subscription box — it’s a thoughtfully built system that tailors your dog’s meals to their unique needs.

One feature that sets The Pets Table apart is who’s behind it: HelloFresh. The same company that helps millions of people cook at home is now bringing that expertise to your dog’s bowl. That means they can help contribute to sourcing, logistics, and consistency in the pet food sphere.

Getting started is refreshingly easy. You answer a few questions about your dog’s age, weight, activity level, and dietary preferences, and The Pets Table builds a customized plan designed to support their health while keeping them satisfied. 

Enjoy High-Quality Ingredients You Can Recognize

When it comes to your dog’s food, ingredients matter, and not all options are created equal. Many traditional choices rely on heavy processing and hard-to-recognize components, while The Pets Table focuses on real, thoughtfully prepared ingredients you can actually identify. 

Take a quick look at most conventional dog food, and you’ll notice a common theme: it’s heavily processed. Kibble, in particular, is typically made using high-heat processing that can strip much of its natural nutritional value and flavor. What’s lost is then replaced with artificial flavors, dyes, and cheap synthetics.

The Pets Table takes a completely different approach. Instead of relying on ultra-processed ingredients, their meals are made using real, recognizable foods that are gently cooked at lower temperatures. This helps preserve naturally occurring nutrients, protein content, and palatability, creating meals that smell and taste like real food, not something engineered.

They offer two main formats: human-grade Fresh meals and minimally processed Air-Dried options. The Fresh recipes deliver that just-cooked feel, while the Air-Dried meals provide a more convenient, shelf-stable alternative without sacrificing quality. If you’re torn between the two, you can mix and match.

Just as importantly, you won’t find artificial flavors, colors, or fillers here. Everything is made with a focus on quality and transparency, so you know exactly what’s going into your dog’s bowl. Plus, The Pets Table has an on-staff Board Certified Vet Nutritionist® to help their meals meet or exceed industry standards.

The result is food that feels like a real upgrade your dog will likely notice immediately.

Get started with The Pets Table today and see how a personalized, high-quality meal plan can make a difference for your dog.

Find Flexible, Personalized Options for Every Dog

Every dog is different, and their food should reflect that. Whether your pup has specific preferences, sensitivities, or simply gets bored with the same meal every day, having options makes all the difference. The Pets Table is designed to give you the flexibility to find an approach that truly works for your dog.

Fresh vs. Air-Dried (or Both)

One of the biggest reasons The Pets Table stands out is its flexibility. Not every dog or pet parent has the same routine, budget, or preferences, and this service reflects that. You can choose between Fresh meals, Air-Dried meals, or a mix of both, depending on what works best for your lifestyle and budget.

Fresh meals are exactly what they sound like: gently cooked, real-food recipes that look and smell like something you’d make in your own kitchen (if you had the time). They’re great for dogs who thrive on softer textures or who get excited about mealtime.

Air-Dried meals offer a more convenient and budget-friendly option. They’re shelf-stable, easy to portion, more affordable than most Fresh options, still made with real ingredients, and still minimally processed to help retain nutrients and flavor. Think of it as a smart, thoughtful alternative to traditional dry food, without the compromises.

If you’re not sure which route is right for your family, you don’t have to choose. Many pet parents opt for a hybrid plan, mixing both formats for variety and convenience. 

Recipe Variety

Variety is essential, especially if your dog has specific tastes or sensitivities. The Pets Table offers eight different recipes, giving you plenty of room to find something your dog genuinely enjoys.

Whether your dog prefers chicken, beef, salmon, or pork, there’s a good chance you’ll land on a recipe that works. More importantly, there are options designed for dogs with common sensitivities. For example, salmon or pork recipes can be great alternatives for dogs that don’t tolerate beef or poultry as well.

You’ll also find both grain-free and grain-inclusive recipes, which adds another layer of flexibility depending on your preferences or your vet’s recommendations. Instead of forcing your dog into a one-size-fits-all solution, The Pets Table makes it easier to find a better match. It’s easy to see why, according to a customer survey from The Pets Table, a majority of customers’ dogs prefer The Pets Table to their previous food.

Personalization That Actually Matters

When you sign up, you’ll answer a short quiz about your dog, covering everything from age and weight to activity level and dietary needs. From there, The Pets Table builds a plan tailored to your dog.

That means portion sizes aren’t guesswork anymore. Instead of eyeballing scoops or hoping you’re feeding the “right” amount, you’re following a plan designed to help keep your dog in a healthy, balanced state.

That matters more than most people realize. Maintaining a healthy weight can have a real impact on your dog’s overall quality of life, adding up to 2.5 years according to some studies. It’s a simple shift, but one that can lead to meaningful, long-term benefits.

Upgrade your dog’s daily routine with meals designed just for them from The Pets Table.

Discover Potential Health Benefits You Could Actually See

When you upgrade your dog’s food, you’re not just changing what’s in their bowl. You’re influencing how they feel day to day. And with The Pets Table, the focus is on delivering nutrition that supports your dog’s overall well-being in a noticeable way.

All meals are complete and balanced for all life stages, following industry standards. That means your dog is getting the nutrients they need to support essential functions like gut health, immune health, vision, and a healthy skin and coat.

According to customer surveys, the company states that most dogs experience positive health improvements within the first month. That might look like more consistent energy, a shinier coat, or more enthusiasm at mealtime.

Take one quick quiz and get your plan started today.

Why The Pets Table Stands Out as a Smarter, More Personalized Way To Feed Your Dog

What makes The Pets Table a top-tier dog food delivery service is how well it balances everything that matters: quality, convenience, flexibility, and value. You’re getting thoughtfully prepared meals made with real ingredients, tailored to your dog’s specific needs, and delivered in a way that fits seamlessly into your life. 

Add the option to mix Fresh and Air-Dried foods, along with a range of recipes designed for different preferences and sensitivities, and it starts to feel like a truly customizable experience. The Pets Table can help you upgrade your dog’s entire mealtime experience in a way that’s manageable and worthwhile, so you can feel good about taking care of what matters most.

The science behind bringing back an Ice Age predator is more nuanced – and more consequential – than the headlines suggest.

Image: Colossal Biosciences

When Colossal Biosciences announced the birth of dire wolves in 2025, the reaction was immediate and polarized: wonder, skepticism, and no shortage of pop culture references. But beyond the headlines, a more substantive question lingers: what does it actually mean to bring back an extinct species? The answer depends on understanding functional de-extinction, a scientific framework that is quietly advancing the broader field of conservation biology.

What Functional De-Extinction Actually Means

Functional de-extinction is the process of generating an organism that both resembles and is genetically similar to an extinct species by resurrecting its lost lineage of core genes, engineering natural resistances, and enhancing adaptability. The process can enable the organism to thrive in today’s environment, including dealing with issues such as climate change, dwindling resources, disease, and human interference.

This is meaningfully different from the cloning scenarios of science fiction. Ancient DNA degrades over millennia, making a perfect genetic replica both scientifically implausible and, arguably, beside the point. The goal instead is functional equivalence — restoring the traits and ecological identity that made a species distinct.

For dire wolves, that meant identifying approximately 20 genomic edits across 14 genes responsible for the animal’s larger frame, robust jaw structure, and characteristically thick, pale coat. Gray wolves served as the genetic foundation. According to Colossal, they are the closest living genetic relative to dire wolves, sharing 99.5% of their DNA. That close relationship meant decades of existing veterinary and genomic research could inform safer, more reliable outcomes throughout the process.

Built Around Safety

Before any embryo reaches a surrogate, Colossal employs machine-learning models, cell-line experiments, and organoid testing to assess safety. As Chief Science Officer, Beth Shapiro has explained, the guiding principle for the process was to verify with “strong certainty that it will be safe,” and to only “de-extinct the key phenotypes of an animal.”

That caution extended to coat color, one of dire wolves’ most recognizable traits. While the ancient genome pointed toward a lighter coat, Colossal has stated that the specific gene variants responsible carried risks of deafness and blindness when expressed in gray wolves. Rather than use those variants, the team reportedly achieved the same phenotypic result through a different, well-understood genetic pathway, one with an established safety record in the species.

Designing a Managed Environment

Colossal’s dire wolves live in a 2,000-acre ecological preserve equipped with perimeter security, real-time monitoring, and drone tracking. The decision to keep the animals in managed care is deliberate and scientific, not simply precautionary. Living in a controlled setting allows researchers to track long-term health and gather data that can directly inform genetic rescue efforts for other endangered canids.

Contemporary ecosystems differ substantially from the Pleistocene environments that dire wolves once inhabited. Releasing the animals into those environments could introduce unknown variables without corresponding conservation benefit. The managed setting is designed to remove that uncertainty while preserving the research value of every animal.

Beyond the Dire Wolf

Perhaps the more immediately significant development is what the dire wolf work produced for living species. Colossal reports that protocols developed during the process led to a method for establishing cell lines directly from blood — an innovation now being applied to the critically endangered red “ghost” wolf. Colossal announced the birth of red “ghost” wolf pups alongside the dire wolf news, a direct translation of de-extinction science into active conservation.

“The same technologies that created the dire wolf can directly help save a variety of other endangered animals,” said Colossal scientific advisor Dr. Christopher Mason. “This is an extraordinary technological leap in genetic engineering efforts for both science and for conservation.”

The toolkit is being explored for genetically bottlenecked species like the pink pigeon, according to Colossal, where introducing genomic diversity could meaningfully improve population health and long-term viability.

A New Chapter, Not a Replacement

Functional de-extinction is not a substitute for habitat protection or traditional conservation funding. Colossal says its work is funded through private investment capital and operates separately from existing conservation grant streams. The technology is designed to complement, rather than compete with, ongoing efforts to protect species facing urgent, present-day threats.

What it does offer is a new category of tool: the potential to recover lost genetic traits and support efforts to strengthen vulnerable populations, and, in cases like the dire wolf, reconstruct the biology of a species that has been absent from the planet for more than 9,000 years. Whether that constitutes a true “resurrection” will remain a matter of scientific debate. What is less debatable is that something genuinely new, and genuinely alive, now exists because of it.

Image Credit: Freddy del Barrio 

Patients navigating modern healthcare systems often move between hospitals, specialists, rehabilitation centers, senior living facilities, and home care providers without any real continuity in the experience. While medical records travel, emotional context rarely does. Freddy del Barrio, founder of Companion AI, believes that gap has become one of healthcare’s most urgent problems.

Freddy says, “Healthcare has optimized everything except human connection. People should not feel forgotten inside the healthcare system.” He believes that healthcare systems have become increasingly transactional while patients, families, and caregivers struggle with isolation and emotional exhaustion.

“Families feel disconnected, elderly patients are isolated, caregivers are overwhelmed, and healthcare is becoming transactional,” Freddy says. “We raised the capital because we believe patients should feel less alone in the healthcare system.”

Companion AI is entering the market at a moment when healthcare organizations are rapidly adopting artificial intelligence tools focused on administrative efficiency, billing optimization, scheduling, diagnostics, and documentation. Freddy argues that many of those systems improve operations while leaving the human experience fragmented.

“Most AI companies focus on efficiency. We’re focused on continuity of the human experience,” he states. Companion’s platform was built to understand not only medical history, but also the broader life context surrounding a patient. Freddy feels the infrastructure is tailored to support holistic, long-term patient and family engagement. He says, “AI should not just know your medical history. It should understand your life context.”

Much of the company’s initial focus lies on senior living and aging populations, which includes dementia care, sectors where loneliness and fragmentation frequently compound medical challenges. Freddy believes older adults often experience healthcare as a rotating cycle of disconnected interactions rather than sustained support systems.

“Where we’re starting is where people are most vulnerable,” he says. “Elders, dementia patients, and families carrying enormous emotional responsibility.”

Companion is also expanding its long-term vision into psychiatric care, veteran support systems, and clinician-facing tools aimed at reducing burnout. Freddy believes that emotional strain among healthcare workers remains one of the least discussed pressures inside the industry. “Caregivers themselves are emotionally collapsing. Staff need support too. Technology should help them feel supported, not replaced,” he says. 

Part of Companion’s strategy includes middleware software intended to reduce friction for clinicians while allowing families to remain more connected to patient experiences and care updates. He sees family inclusion as a critical missing layer in many healthcare technologies currently entering the market.“People become fragmented as they move through different providers and systems. Companion becomes connective tissue,” he says. 

Freddy believes there’s a broader shift occurring inside health-tech markets, particularly around solutions tied to aging populations, behavioral health, and long-term care infrastructure. Due to that shift, governance and compliance remain a major focus for the startup. Freddy argues that many AI companies attempt to address healthcare regulations after launching products, while Companion structured its architecture around healthcare interoperability and governance requirements from the outset.

“Most AI companies retroactively add compliance,” he says. “We built governance, interoperability, and healthcare deployment into the infrastructure from the beginning.”

Freddy also believes the company’s mission extends past elder care into a broader social issue surrounding modern loneliness and digital isolation. Remote work, post-pandemic disconnection, and rising mental health strain have created new emotional pressures across demographics, according to Freddy, particularly among younger populations increasingly reliant on digital communication.

“We built Companion around the belief that technology should strengthen human connection. Healthcare needs more humanity, not less,” he says. 

With the growth on the horizon, Freddy continues to pursue independent growth while restructuring the staff for US expansion. He is leading this expansion directly by relocating to the US to bootstrap initial operations and build a strategic advisory board to target high-need states. 

Companion’s growth arrives during a period when healthcare AI conversations are often dominated by automation and operational efficiency. In the midst of those paradigm-shifting discussions, Freddy sees a different opportunity emerging, where patients can feel remembered, families can stay connected, and clinicians can sustain emotionally demanding work without losing the human relationships at the center of care. 

This article is for informational purposes only and does not substitute for professional medical advice. If you are seeking medical advice, diagnosis or treatment, please consult a medical professional or healthcare provider.

Three founders. One small island nation. A company most people on Wall Street had never heard of.

Vertus, an AI company based on the Isle of Man, says it generated returns of more than 51 percent in 2025 while trading over 500 million dollars a day. Not a simulation. Not a backtest. A full calendar year of live market activity involving real capital. According to the company, these results have been independently verified by Alpha Performance Verification Services, a certified public accounting firm.

According to the company, its performance exceeded that of a number of established hedge funds during a year that proved difficult for many quantitative and AI-driven strategies.

In April 2025, global markets were hit by a sharp wave of volatility following significant changes in US trade policy. Many systems built primarily on historical pattern recognition struggled to adapt to rapidly changing conditions.

Vertus says its system adapted differently.

The company describes its technology as a cognitive reasoning architecture designed to revise its assumptions as conditions change rather than relying solely on historical pattern recognition. According to Vertus, 11 months during 2025 were positive, with one period of drawdown recovered within 10 days.

So who built this thing?

Julius Franck is a German quantitative researcher who graduated valedictorian from Nürtingen-Geislingen University before continuing his studies in South Korea, where he completed a Master of Science in International Finance at Sogang University.

Michal Prywata is a Polish-Canadian engineer and entrepreneur whose previous work has included biomedical engineering, robotics, and aerospace ventures. Before Vertus, he co-founded Quantum Cognition alongside Alex Foster, where the pair began exploring machine reasoning systems designed for financial environments.

Foster, a British entrepreneur, says he made his first trade at fourteen and funded much of his education and earlier business ventures through trading profits. He later became involved in the development of algorithmic trading systems and AI-focused financial infrastructure.

On paper, the three founders had little in common. One came from quantitative finance, another from biomedical engineering and aerospace, and the third from trading and systems development. Their paths eventually converged around a shared belief that many AI systems still rely too heavily on prediction rather than adaptive reasoning.

The first thread connecting them was Quantum Cognition, an AI research venture co-founded by Foster and Prywata, where the group began exploring what machine reasoning systems might look like in high-consequence financial environments. Franck later joined through that shared conviction.

The technology is now being extended beyond finance into areas including healthcare, scientific research, and infrastructure, where decision-making under changing conditions carries significant real-world consequences.

They built Vertus on the Isle of Man, a self-governing island in the Irish Sea better known internationally for motorcycle racing and offshore finance than artificial intelligence research.

Whether Vertus ultimately lives up to its ambitions remains to be seen. But after a year that appears to have drawn growing attention from parts of the financial world, the company is beginning to step into the spotlight.

The information provided in this article is for general informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Readers should conduct their own independent research and consult qualified financial professionals before making investment or financial decisions. Any performance figures or company statements referenced in this article are attributed to the company unless otherwise independently verified.

Employers should consider challenging the traditional view of open enrollment for things like health insurance and retirement plans as a unique or special part of compensation. While these are helpful as a baseline for employee benefits, many employers have them. 

They’re easy to take for granted and don’t help much with important things like employee loyalty. When open enrollment ends, benefits tend to fall by the wayside. If an employer wants to retain employees, they should think beyond these basics and consider perks that continue to have an impact throughout the year. 

Why it’s a good idea to invest in benefits that give value year-round

When an employer is willing to build a benefits package that includes everyday value, it shows their appreciation for their team. If they can show that they’re being intentional when they’re setting up a package, that’s even better. 

When an employee feels seen and valued through the specifics of their benefits, it sends the message that management and HR teams don’t just want to give them more random stuff. They want to give them something with a personalized sense of value that helps them juggle things like everyday expenses and wellness. 

Work-life balance is a particularly important trend right now, too. More and more research points to lost productivity from burnout, and things like health events can hurt employers and employees alike. 

In other words, if an employer is going to expand their benefits package, they need to do it with something that holds genuine value. If leaders want their employee benefits to boost retention and build loyalty from their staff, they need to make sure they’re being intentional at every step.

With that in mind, here are seven benefits companies can use, along with basics, like a solid health plan and good 401(k) match, to build a benefits package that draws people in and makes them never want to leave once they’re in the building.

1. Everyday savings and discount platforms

One of the most consistent employee benefits is corporate discount programs. These offer packages that include special offers, targeted discounts and everyday savings across a broad cross-section of life, including:

• Vacations and hotels
• Theme parks and similar attractions
• Electronics and appliances
• Fitness memberships
• Gift cards and groceries
• Apparel
• Cars
• Live events

Working Advantage, a leading Discount Corporate Program, points out that this doesn’t just offer savings. It can boost recruitment and retention by giving a company’s talent access to better branded experiences that might otherwise be too expensive. For instance, rather than going to a local theme park, it might lower the barrier to entry for a more popular option. 

Offering employees ways to save on local offers on a regular basis shows that their employer is looking out for them in a world where prices are always getting higher. This kind of perk also lets people use their work perks to patronize local organizations and stay close to home if that’s what they prefer.

2. Mental health support

Mental health is on everyone’s minds in 2026. Burnout is a big focus when it comes to work-related mental wellness, too. This affects employers as well as employees, with businesses around the world collectively paying around $322 billion to cover the cost of burnout.

One way employers can show ongoing support for their employees is through mental health support options. These can take a few different forms. For instance, offering free or subsidized therapy and counseling can give employees a lifeline that they might not otherwise be able to afford. 

Wellness has become part of many office retention strategies. While a program is helpful, though, make sure your off-the-clock benefits line up with the wellness initiatives you’re pursuing at work.

3. Flexible fitness memberships

Physical health is another major factor that contributes to ongoing health. A good workout regimen can maintain weight, preserve mental health and prevent complications over time.

The key is implementing a fitness option that works in a hybrid work world. A gym on location only helps in-person workers. Instead, look for gym networks that people can use no matter where they’re working from.

Virtual wellness programs are another option. Investing in trainers and coaches who are available through virtual meetings can help remote workers stay plugged in and in shape over time.

4. Childcare and caregiving support

Childcare is a significant financial burden for many families. The cost of childcare has become so high that, in many cases, when a second parent goes back to work, it wipes out most of a second paycheck. 

One national childcare organization found that the cost per child for care in 2024 was $13,128. To put that in perspective, the average annual price for child care for two children in the vast majority of states across America can be higher than paying the mortgage. Offering childcare and caregiving support gives workers a natural incentive to stay at a company. 

Childcare benefits could be as simple as offering flexible hours and remote work options to accommodate caregiving schedules. It can also be more direct, such as subsidizing childcare costs or reimbursing childcare-related out-of-pocket expenses. 

5. Financial wellness perks

Compensation, everyday discounts, and childcare subsidies — these all help employees keep more of their cash. But an employer can go further by helping them protect and manage their finances over time.

This can come through something like additional insurance offerings for high-value possessions or offering identity protection. Financial literacy is also important. Providing budgeting coaching and offering budgeting tools is another great way for an employer to show employees that they aren’t just invested in their compensation. They want them to build wealth and thrive.

6. Travel and entertainment discounts

The best ongoing benefits packages know how to balance the practical with the fun stuff. High-value experiences are hard to come by, and they often come with a big price tag attached.

Employers can help employees access experiences as part of a rolling benefits package. If someone likes to travel, their perks can include something like a corporate card where they can accumulate personal travel miles. 

An employer can also subsidize vacation packages, offer reduced prices for tickets for concerts or sports events, and even offer something simple, like a free pass to the movies. The key is to find options that have a high perceived value for employees (and their families, too). 

7. Voluntary benefits employees can personalize

Personalized benefits can provide a sense of individuality. They are also flexible options that you can often tailor to specific employee values, beliefs, or desires.

For instance, a voluntary benefit like this could be setting up a donation option that lets employees choose the specific organization they want to support. Providing paid time off to volunteer at places they support is another good option.

An employer can even offer funding for things like pet insurance, legal services and similar needs that come and go depending on individual needs, preferences, circumstances and stages of life.

What HR teams can learn from benefit usage trends

HR teams need to resist falling into a predictable pattern when it comes to benefits in 2026. As digital tools expand benefits options and increase personalization, HR leaders should work to build benefits packages that accomplish a few specific things:

• Balancing open enrollment with ongoing perks that continually signal care and value to employees.
• Offering practical savings that provide functional support as well as flashy perks for memorable, high-perceived-value experiences.
• Providing flexibility and personalization options whenever possible to tailor packages to precisely what employees want and need.

Along with finding the right perks and benefits, HR teams need to communicate the purpose of these packages and each individual perk to the individuals they are intended for. Visibility matters here. Payroll is straightforward. But a discount program or free budgeting app? That could require a push for awareness and education to demonstrate their value and push adoption. 

If HR leaders can spearhead the use of robust benefits packages backed up by strong awareness and adoption campaigns, they can signal to employees that their employer is invested not just in paying them, but in cultivating their overall wellbeing and that of their loved ones throughout the year.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not substitute for professional medical advice. If you are seeking medical advice, diagnosis or treatment, please consult a medical professional or healthcare provider.

Companies have long invested heavily in advertising, and running ads in 2026 has become more expensive than ever. The results from running a quality ad are still there, in many cases, but the cost (and complexity) to place an ad in front of a target audience continues to grow.

The expenses aren’t just on the sticker price. Hidden costs are increasingly common. For many advertisers, that means even when ads appear to be working, the true return on investment is often lower than expected.

The Hidden Costs of Running Ads Right Now

Running an ad — especially a digital ad — is a complicated process. Ad strategy and content creation come first. From there, marketers must choose their ad platform, often picking from a wide range of options. These large platforms offer a third-party path to reach a broad range of consumers. However, their scale can make it difficult to understand results beyond basic metrics of running each ad.

In reality, the cost that goes into an ad has become multi-faceted and convoluted over time. There is a lot more that companies are paying for besides clicks and impressions. Ad platforms often mistakenly overcharge clients. They can misallocate budgets and inflate metrics, making results appear better than they really are.

This can manifest in a few different ways. One of these is geographically-targeted ads that run outside of their targeted location. For instance, if a roofer in Springfield, Illinois, runs an ad and it accidentally shows up on a screen in Atlanta, Georgia, that’s wasted. The roofer would most likely not take a job that far away, making the promotion unnecessary.

Another form of waste is when ads are hidden on a page (something called ad stacking and pixel stuffing). This allows a platform to overcount impressions without real impact. Ads can also run on fake sites, siphoning away ad dollars from their intended audience. Bot traffic on articles and click farms is also a lost marketing investment.

All of this doesn’t take into account things like rising ad platform fees and the resources and time required to manage ad strategy and deployment across increasingly complex ad systems. Add up the time, effort and waste, and ads have become more expensive than ever to run. And the pressure is rising thanks to new changes with ad platforms.

Payment Changes Are Adding Ad Pressure

Another source of pressure on advertisers comes from new payment policies from major players. One ad platform is changing its billing policy for bigger ad spenders. It is making them shift from credit card payments to monthly invoicing and direct bank debits. Others are making similar moves.

While these new formats are specifically being targeted toward bigger companies, there’s no way to know how long that will remain the case. This shift away from accepting credit cards creates new challenges in the form of cash flow. Without access to credit, companies can lose flexibility, miss out on rewards and face tighter payment timelines. This can result in lost financial flexibility.

The Impact of Increasing Ad Restrictions

All of these changes aren’t happening in a vacuum. They are having a real-world impact on companies, and small, medium and large businesses are responding. A common response from businesses is that if the cost of running ads continues to rise, companies won’t allocate as much money toward them. 

Zach Johnson, founder of the corporate charge card and automation platform Dash.fi, pointed out, “When advertisers lost flexibility in how they pay, the response wasn’t just vocal. It also showed up in reduced spending. Payment friction doesn’t cause churn, it causes contraction.”

That contraction makes sense. It isn’t that companies don’t want to advertise on major platforms anymore. It’s more about the complexity as well as the lack of flexibility and transparency. Companies can’t have a “set-it-and-forget-it” approach anymore. They need people to actively watch and manage payments, because if something goes wrong, campaigns can pause unexpectedly, which may impact sales. Companies may also miss out on the added benefits that come with using corporate credit cards. 

The Reality of Running Ads in 2026

Marketers are still using ads in 2026, but they’re doing so with more forethought and strategy. They can no longer take a passive approach to ad spending and expect strong returns.

As rules tighten and costs increase, businesses are responding by reducing spending. They are contracting their marketing and looking for ways to optimize to maintain the highest ROI possible moving forward. Expect that trend to continue until new ad channels open up.

The information provided in this article is for general informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended as financial or professional advice. Readers should not rely solely on the content of this article and are encouraged to seek professional advice tailored to their specific circumstances. We disclaim any liability for any loss or damage arising directly or indirectly from the use of, or reliance on, the information presented.

Wearable pumping products are becoming smaller, quieter, and easier to fold into everyday routines

Plenty of parenting products still seem designed around the fantasy of uninterrupted time. Breast pumps especially carried that expectation for years. They came with cords stretched across tables, loud motors running through entire sessions, and bulky bags that made pumping feel closer to unpacking equipment than handling part of an ordinary routine. Momcozy emerged as one response to that experience, focusing on products that feel more compatible with the realities of modern parenting.

In the past decade, parenthood has become even harder to manage as parents balance remote work, commuting, travel, childcare, and everything else stacked into modern schedules. New moms are pumping between meetings, during long commutes, all while managing work and pickup schedules. Women are often searching for a breastfeeding pump for working moms. 

Products like Momcozy’s Wellness 1 (W1) gained attention because the design feels more integrated into life. The wearable breast pump focuses on portability and comfort without making pumping feel isolated from everything else happening around it. The W1 is high-performing and lifestyle-friendly, creating an improved pumping experience.

The change feels visible almost everywhere now. Pumps show up clipped beside tote bags during airport layovers, packed into work backpacks beside laptops, or sitting quietly on kitchen counters without looking like hospital equipment someone forgot to put away afterward. Parenting technology increasingly blends into all types of routines rather than interrupting them entirely. 

Pumping products started shrinking into daily life

A lot of wearable technology became more successful once people stopped wanting separate devices for every part of their routine. Phones replaced cameras, and watches track workouts quietly in the background. 

Wireless headphones eventually stopped feeling like gadgets people showed off to become part of ordinary routines. Breastfeeding products slowly moved in a similar direction once wearable pumps became smaller and easier to carry throughout the day. 

A hands-free breast pump fits differently into someone’s schedule than older setups that required sitting beside an outlet with cords and tubing spread across nearby furniture. Parents juggling work, errands, commuting, and childcare often look for products that move with them.

Some days also unravel faster than expected. A short trip outside can quietly turn into hours spent in traffic, waiting rooms, grocery store lines, and last-minute schedule changes. Wearable pumps tend to fit more comfortably into that kind of unpredictability. 

Comfort started becoming publicly important

For a long time, conversations around pumping mostly centered on efficiency. Parents compared battery life, suction strength, storage capacity, and output while talking far less openly about discomfort or exhaustion surrounding the experience itself. 

That tone shifted gradually once more mothers started discussing how physically draining repetitive pumping routines could feel over time. Products built around warmth, softer materials, and quieter wearable construction became more visible afterward. Momcozy’s W1 makes that shift more tangible with features such as a 360° Heated DoubleFit™ flange and rhythmic massage support. The warmth helps milk flow start more easily, while the massage makes pumping feel gentler, softer, and more natural within a wearable design built for daily use. 

The conversation around comfortable breast pumping also expanded because parenting culture itself became more candid online. Some moms describe the wearable pumps as especially useful for parents trying to balance pumping with work responsibilities and daily movement. 

Parenting tech now has to work in motion

Parenting products typically succeed or fail based on whether they actually fit into real schedules. Parents already carry phones, chargers, snacks, backup clothes, wipes, water bottles, and half a dozen other things before leaving the house. Anything overly bulky or inconvenient starts feeling frustrating very quickly. 

Breastfeeding technology still revolves around practicality first. But the category still looks noticeably different once comfort, movement, and ordinary life become part of the design conversation. Products built around mobility naturally became more appealing once those realities stopped feeling unusual. As wearable pumps continue evolving, the expectation is no longer just efficiency, but whether the technology can quietly adapt to the rhythm of everyday life rather than forcing parents to adapt around it. 

For parents navigating busy, on-the-go routines, choosing tools designed for mobility can make a meaningful difference—and shopping moments like Amazon Prime Day deals can be a timely opportunity to explore more flexible, lifestyle-friendly options. 

Open office spaces offer teams a wide range of benefits, including accessibility to colleagues and the ability to engage in unscheduled conversations. However, a new study highlighted a major downside to open-concept workplace designs: They make it difficult to concentrate, which can affect employee performance and productivity.

The study compared the brain waves of adults who were working in an open office environment or working in a single-person, closed environment. After interpreting the data, the study authors concluded that those in open offices had to concentrate harder to get their jobs done, potentially affecting how quickly and effectively they completed tasks.

This doesn’t mean that open office concepts can’t work, though. If their inherent downsides can be overcome, they can turn into efficient workspaces. And five companies have products aimed at solving one of those downsides, which is noise.

1. RPG Acoustical Systems

Many organizations bring in outside architectural elements like fabric dividers to dampen the sounds in open offices. However, RPG Acoustical Systems now offers a specialty process that is designed to decrease the need for those kinds of physical solutions by turning furniture into dynamic sound optimizers.

The process, called SoniQ™ Technology, involves making nearly invisible modifications to wooden furniture using a laser. After receiving the treatment, standard desks, credenzas, and other vertical wooden office surfaces can switch from being reflective to absorptive surfaces. This helps reduce sound reverberation to under half a second, which RPG reports is the typical sound reduction goal in offices. SoniQ™ Technology can be used alone or in tandem with other noise-reducing solutions.

2. AtlasIED

An effective method to address unwanted sound in an office is to mask it with neutralizing sounds. By overlaying a new sound on top of existing sounds, the collective noise level can be reduced to produce a calmer, more appealing workspace.

AtlasIED sells a line of sound-reduction systems built for commercial applications. A typical system includes an amplifier and loudspeakers that are ready to be installed in any space. While these kinds of systems can’t negate all noise, they can increase the privacy level of conversations, making them an ideal consideration for companies operating in highly secure industries like healthcare and finance.

3. Plant Solutions

Green walls and surfaces are a particularly unusual but highly eco-friendly option for companies interested in dampening sound with nature. As Plant Solutions explains, plants can be used to build living barriers in open offices. The barriers, whether in a form like rows of boxed greenery or a wall of moss, can produce a quieter atmosphere.

Plant Solutions designs and installs these kinds of horticultural noise-cancelling solutions for organizations interested in taking the most green approach to sound reduction possible. For companies unsure about a long-term commitment, a plant leasing program allows for temporary installations that can be removed or modified on demand.

4. Hushoffice

Sometimes, the best noise-cancelling strategy is providing employees with places to work that are outside the main open office space. Yet conventional conference rooms aren’t always feasible in some areas, such as rented spaces that don’t have existing rooms and can’t be physically altered.

In those cases, acoustic pods by Hushoffice can provide standalone alternatives to conference areas. The company’s lineup of pods includes different sizes to accommodate individual users as well as groups. Each booth can be installed without the need to modify the surrounding work zones, helping to make it simpler to find areas for private calls and virtual meetings.

5. Framery

One way to reduce noise in an open office is to give employees a quiet place to step away when they need to focus. This can be especially useful for private calls, virtual meetings, or tasks that require concentration.

Framery makes soundproof office pods designed for these situations. The company offers a range of booths in different sizes, from spaces built for one person to larger units that can accommodate small groups. Because the pods are freestanding, they can be added to existing office layouts without major construction. For organizations looking to create quieter work areas while keeping an open office design, acoustic pods can be a practical solution.

Americans have been flying past it for years. A new direct flight from Newark has plans to change that.  

There is a stretch of Croatian coastline about 200 miles long where you can sail crystal-clear water in the morning, eat grilled fish caught the same day for lunch, hike a mountain with Adriatic views in the afternoon, and end the night in a Roman palace that people have been living inside for 1,700 years. The beaches are among the cleanest in Europe. The towns are made of white limestone that glows in the late afternoon sun. The food and wine are serious without being precious about it. 

It is called Central Dalmatia. Most Americans have heard of it. So far, few have visited.

The flight that makes it easier 

The trip is changing. A new nonstop service from Newark to Split started this spring, and the last logistical reason to choose somewhere else over Central Dalmatia is no longer in picture.

The case for going is not complicated. Every element of the classic Euro-summer exists here, compressed into a geography small enough to navigate without stress. The Amalfi Coast is gridlocked, the Greek islands are expensive, and Mykonos in August is a line just to get into a club. Dalmatia gives you the water, the history, the food, the sailing, and the warmth, all in a small stretch of land the size of Rhode Island.

Split: a real city, not a resort

The story of Split started when Roman Emperor Diocletian built his retirement palace here in the fourth century. People moved in after the empire fell and never left. Behind walls two meters thick, squeezed into spaces originally designed as imperial quarters, are apartments, restaurants, and a cathedral built into a mausoleum.

On summer nights, klapa singers gather under the open roof of the Vestibul, and the harmonics carry across the stone in a way that stops people mid-sentence to stand and watch. At night, the waterfront promenade–Riva fills back up, same tables, same people, just later and louder. Split is the kind of city where walking back home after a night out is a given. Croatia ranks 19th on the Global Peace Index, ahead of Italy, France, and Germany, and is rated Level 1 by the U.S. State Department, signifying the highest level of safety. 

Fifteen minutes east, Bacvice beach is a sandy one in a city where most are pebble. Locals play picigin in the shallows, a ball game invented here, kept alive in summer and in a traditional New Year game in January. At the Pazar market outside the Silver Gate, women sell dried figs, honey, and carnations. The fish market nearby opens early. By mid-morning, all the stone slabs are picked clean.

Rising above it all is Marjan Hill. Hiking these paths leads you through trails that pass rock-cut churches before getting you to the best view stops in the region, looking over the Adriatic with an uninterrupted view of the Croatian islands. 

Island Brac: 45 minutes by ferry

The ferry from Split crosses the Brac Channel in 45 minutes, and the water beneath it is among the cleanest in Europe. Brac Island has been quarrying white limestone for two thousand years. The same stone used in Diocletian’s palace traveled all the way to New York in an artwork now standing at the UN Headquarters building, made by Antun Augustincic, one of Croatia’s most prominent sculptors. This craft is still being practiced today in Pucisca, where a stonemasonry school, one of the last of its kind in Europe, still teaches students to cut and carve the same material by hand, for new sculptures that might reach even further than the ones before.

Coming to Brac, you see more than just heritage; the history is present all around you. The olive oil served in the restaurant most likely comes from the local olive groves, continuously cultivated for over two millennia, across countries and civilizations. 

A short ride south brings you to a real attention grabber. Zlatni Rat on the southern shore is a narrow wedge that shifts shape with the current and extends into water the color of a shallow tropical sea. It’s been among the best beach in Europe consecutively for years, and is the meet point for windsurfing enthusiasts who spend hours on these waters. 

The Makarska Riviera

An hour south of Split, the Makarska Riviera runs 60 kilometers along the coast with pine forests coming down to the water and the Biokovo mountain range rising directly behind them. The gap between beach and summit is a few kilometers wide. Biokovo’s highest peak, Sveti Jure, reaches 1,762 meters and on a clear day from the top, you can see Monte Gargano in Italy, 252 kilometers across the water. The mountain has a glass-floored skywalk cantilevered over the Adriatic at 1,228 meters for those who want the view without the full climb. For those who do climb, there are over 87 churches and chapels on the mountain, left by the people who lived on Biokovo’s slopes for centuries, sheltering from enemy attacks, while the coast below remained largely empty. 

The coast they eventually came down to is where the beaches are now— long, pine-shaded, and facing the islands of Brac and Hvar across the channel. You swim in the morning. By afternoon, you are on a mountain trail. The restaurants in Makarska are waiting for you when you come back down.

When to go

American arrivals grew 16 percent in 2025, a result of Croatia joining Schengen in 2023, which means Americans can stay 90 days without a visa. The word is getting out. This is one of the most complete stretches of coastline in Europe. Ancient cities, mountain wilderness, clean water, serious food, and islands you can reach before your coffee gets cold, all packed into a geography that takes a week to understand and years to exhaust. The direct flight from Newark removes the last logistical reason to keep postponing the trip.

June through September is when the region is at its most vibrant. The water is warm, and Zlatni Rat has the golden hour California dreams of.

The Amalfi Coast will overwhelm you. Greece can get expensive. Dalmatia tends to avoid both. One of Europe’s most under-the-radar summer coastlines just got a nonstop flight from New York. The only question is how long it stays that way.

The entrepreneur is involved across multiple ventures and industries

Jordan Buich believes in entrepreneurial thought leadership, so marketing focuses on commercial value. His recent discussion rests on how perception, position, and earned media shape company success. He believes that marketing is not simply promotion. Instead, it is an underlying infrastructure that shapes the ways companies are understood, trusted, and valued in the market.

Entrepreneur, not marketer

The business world revolves around titles and their associated duties and roles. As a businessman, Buich is dedicated to working as an entrepreneur, founder, strategist, and business builder. These roles are associated with his involvement across multiple ventures and industries, not just a single business identity. 

Marketing as infrastructure

The sphere of marketing is a foundational element to company-building, from client research and public-facing strategies to network building and reputation work. The idea that marketing should be viewed simply as the act of entrepreneurship is prescient. The thought for Buich is that marketing affects trust, valuation, investor perception, pricing, partnerships, and market understanding.

Core philosophy

The market is more than an exchange for buying and selling products. It also buys belief, trust, clarity, and perception, in parallel with product sales. The focus has shifted to translating real value into market understanding, a big help for managers assessing company health and performance. “Great marketing does not make brands louder. It makes real value impossible to misunderstand,” Buich said.

Expertise in perception and positioning

His recent interests focus on studying how perception affects business outcomes. Within this area, he focuses on credibility, cultural relevance, narrative, media, and social proof. The discussion points within these topics are immense, to the point that scholars have written books on the subjects. Much of the emphasis within these fields is on alignment between visuals, language, partnerships, press, and founder presence.

Multi-industry entrepreneurial background

For Buich, gaining experience across industries has been formative. They have included media, luxury, wellness, telehealth, technology, finance, consumer products, entertainment, and tax resolution. His influences have included luxury brands, creator campaigns, founder-led companies, and high-level business networks. Closer relationships evolved from service work into deeper strategic or equity involvement, leading to higher levels of engagement and knowledge in those industries.

Among these clients are a luxury automotive brands, a global fashion house, a heritage jewelry brand, a tax resolution firm, a blockchain infrastructure company, a high-profile founder, a high-net-worth client, and a private client requiring reputation protection.

Earned Media Value (EMV) thinking

Earned Media Value can be viewed as the commercial value of visibility, credibility, and third-party validation. Strong media efforts create a long-term infrastructure using search value, trust, backlinks, investor usefulness, and brand authority. Buich is an advocate for transparent and realistic EMV frameworks and not inflated metrics. 

Brand standards and taste

In the world of products, premium brands stand out for meeting elite standards and qualities. They are built, he believes, through restraint, consistency, clarity, and confidence. His study of luxury houses and premium brands helps him to understand long-term perception and desirability. On the opposite end of the scale, weak positioning is often revealed by overselling, noise, and lack of discipline.

Founder-focused perspective

In some companies, founders underestimate the role of marketing in affecting company value. Buich sees it as a shaping force and emphasizes “belief before demand.” Founders themselves play a role in the brand signal stack, so education in this area can help influence the company to take a trajectory that incorporates a wider range of marketing, to its benefit.

Long-term positioning goal

Buich has been grateful for early education to understand that marketing is the architecture of belief and commercial value. His career goals now are to build durable intellectual positioning around brand perception, EMV, and market trust. Rather than short-term attention, his focus is on substance, credibility, and long-term reputation, so every business can attempt to elevate its premium qualities.