Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
Airlines’ Premium-Economy Trick Carriers are banking on the psychological allure of marginal luxury. Airlines have once again wrung a new social class from flying. ( Alex Cochran ) Let’s say you receive an unexpected financial windfall. What’s the first thing you’re spending money on? If it’s a lavish vacation—how are you getting there? Americans top the…
“I tried to register for the 2016 election, but it was beyond the deadline by the time I tried to do it,” a man named Tim, age 27, explained to New York magazine last fall. “I hate mailing stuff; it gives me anxiety.” Tim was outlining the reasons why he, like 11 other millennials interviewed…
Airbnb, once a saviour from overpriced hotels, has become the new overpriced hotels since becoming the short-term accommodation staple. But with the rise of community living and workcations, an alternative might be to just sleep where you cowork. That’s the idea behind PodShare, a coworking space with beds, which has three locations in Los Angeles….
The “gig economy” has been hailed as a major disruption to the American workforce, as sites like Uber, Airbnb and Etsy offer workers new ways to make money and work a flexible schedule. But a new report offers a stark reminder that it’s not likely to replace the full-time job anytime soon. In a report released Monday, the JPMorgan…
On weekends, Colleen teaches fitness classes. Mary builds websites. Luke sells vintage video games. Tony designs and 3D-prints custom Star Wars miniatures. I write for the internet. Among my friends, and 20- and 30-somethings as a whole, the side hustle–the gig you work in addition to your day job–is so ubiquitous that, in April, Glamour…
Fiverr, an online freelance marketplace that promotes itself as being for “the lean entrepreneur,” recently attracted ire for an ad campaign called “In Doers We Trust.”CreditCOURTESY FIVERR Barrier Status: ‘none’ Last September, a very twenty-first-century type of story appeared on the company blog of the ride-sharing app Lyft. “Long-time Lyft driver and mentor, Mary, was…
The American dream hinges on the idea that future generations will do better than the ones that preceded them. But a new study (pdf) from a team of economists and sociologists at Harvard, Stanford, and the University of California is bad news for a whole generation: Only half of American 30-year-olds today earn more money…
Ever since he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease three years ago, Kevin, an Airbnb host in San Francisco, says the extra income his family earns through the home-sharing company has helped ease the financial burden brought on by his medical care, he explains in a recent video ad. It’s helped “mitigate the stress,” adds his…
Workers say they want people to see the “real Chipotle.” Photo: Joe Raedle Disgruntled workers are starting to detail the ways Chipotle allegedly screwed them out of wages, and so far the stories definitely make the problem sound bigger than “a few rogue managers” not following policy (as the chain has suggested). CNNMoney — which…
Last week, two members of BuzzFeed’s video team were fired for reportedly violating non-compete clauses in their employment agreements. According to Politico, Jenny Lorenzo and Brittany Ashley were let go because they appeared in a non-BuzzFeed web series, “Gente-Fied,” produced by America Ferrera and focusing on Latinx experiences. As the news trickled out, people formerly…