Journal

Have yourself a very green Christmas—and please use legally (and responsibly)!

In 2015, pot began to grow up. With legalization elections anticipated next November for between 5 and 10 states, companies are thinking about how to attract new customers, especially older and female ones. It’s too early to know for sure just how well their efforts are working, but they have released products that seem more informed by attractive, minimalist design than by the drug’s more familiar seedy image. Call it the sex-toy strategy.

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Experiences make people happier than things; here are the best non-thing gifts the startup world has to offer this holiday season.

Spending money on experiences rather than things will make you happier, and there’s scientific research to prove it.

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The modern lazy person’s guide to obligatory holiday gift exchange.

As “on-demand” companies compete to deliver our food, run our errands, do our laundry, and even pack our suitcases, pundits are wondering whether we’re really this lazy. Our best advice? Ignore them—at least when it comes to obligatory holiday gifting.

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From a breathable alcohol bar to a race track inside an airport, here are some of the best design ideas in travel we covered in 2015.

Travel presents itself as a glamorous endeavor, but the reality is often anger-making and tedious. Thank goodness there are designers around the world working to fix problems such as cumbersome carry-on luggage, poor lighting in hotels, and more. Click through our slide show to see nine stories about clever ideas for improving the travel experience.

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The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus’s little moving images are getting a huge new distribution channel.

By default, when you snap a picture with Apple’s iPhone 6s or 6s Plus, what you get is a Live Photo: an image that includes about 1.5 seconds of motion and audio before and after you pressed the shutter button, capturing a moment in action. Apple prefers not to call the results a video, but what they are, essentially, are tiny videos in a proprietary file format.

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After four previous attempts, Elon Musk’s space company finally can claim its rocket is truly “reusable.”

“Stage One has landed.”

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Will my daughter preside over her own company? Unless things change, she probably won’t, and neither will yours.

My 4-year-old daughter Serena will be 30 in 2041. Assuming that she has a college degree and eight years of work experience, how might she fare in a world dominated by contract workers, fluid teams, human-centered work, persistent pay gaps, blurred work-life boundaries, and biases that have been around since the beginning of time? Well, let’s investigate.

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Read some (or all!) of these 2015 favorites over the holidays and you’ll return to work in January ready to make 2016 the best year yet.

The holidays are a great time to catch up on reading, and think beyond day-to-day issues. Here are 10 of our favorite business and productivity books from 2015 that will help you see larger trends—and your own career—in a new light.

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I have to show you how to call Uncle Joe on FaceTime, again?

Every young person knows this scenario: our parents ask us (for what feels like the hundredth time) to teach them how to call Aunt Julia on FaceTime, or attach photos to an email, or use the TV remote control. You roll your eyes, show them how to do it, and marvel that they can’t solve something that’s so freaking simple. Or … maybe you’re that technology illiterate person. You’ve accepted the fact that you’re inherently bad with tech and there’s nothing you can do to change it. Well, here’s some good news for everyone: according to a recent study, people’s mindsets about learning technology may affect their ability to use it—and if you have the right mindset, you may actually get better at technology.

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