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It might start with a cassette deck that streams Spotify and charges your phone. It doesnt have to stop there. These days, yesterday is big business. A retro revival is underway in the design world: mushroom-shaped lamps, walnut stereo consoles, daisy dishware, neon Polaroid cameras. Its like our homes just hustled over from One Day at a Time or That ’70s Show or moonwalked in from Thriller-era 1982. Welcome to the retro reset, where 70s, 80s, and ’90s aesthetics are getting a second life. It’s not just in fashion and film but in home décor and tech. Whether you actually lived through it or long for a past you never experienced, nostalgia is fueling a surge of interest from Gen X to Gen Z in throwback styles that blend vintage charm with modern convenience. Old-school tech, new-school tricks A big part of the trend is tech that looks analog but functions digitally. Think portable CD players in the kind of candy colors popular at Radio Shack in the 1970s, AM/FM radios equipped with USB outputs, or turntables with Bluetooth amplification to wireless speakers. Compact radios styled after 1970s transistor models now double as smart speakers. Theres even a growing market for clunky-but-charming mini cathode-ray-style TVs and boomboxes with streaming capability. It’s as if the Carter, Reagan and Clinton eras have collided with the latest of the digital age. What draws us? Some of it is the tactile appeal of dials and buttons of interacting with something that feels solid, more real. In a room, these elements arent just nods to the past. Theyre also aesthetic statements that add way more character than a giant, flat, black screen, or a smart” sound system you cant even see. Stereo consoles in a woodgrain finish or a pastel-colored lacquer offer not only music but a nice furniture addition to a space. (Though who knows: Will those minimalist black screens be retro” one day for our children and grandchildren?) Whether its turntables, cassette players, speakers or musical instruments, theres definitely a fascination among younger audiences with analog technology and how things worked before the digital age,” says Emmanuel Plat, merchandising director for MoMAstore, the design shop at New Yorks Museum of Modern Art. The store has Tivolis Model One table radio, with a throwback-style, wood-grain frame, circle speaker grill and knobs, but 2025s sound quality and connectivity. Theyre also stocking pocket synthesizers, Bluetooth turntables, and Peanuts-themed Polaroid cameras and cassette players. Whos into it and why Gen Z is seeing it all with fresh eyes, and enjoying the hunt for vintage or vintage-look stuff. Millennials and Gen X may enjoy reliving their childhood aesthetics. And that can be comforting in today’s stressed world, says Joseph Sgambatti, 37, a design journalist in New York City. Nostalgia-driven design choices become comforts that help us cope,” he says. There’s also an ironic, social-media component to the trend. Midcentury modern and retro design objects are simple, often show-stopping artifacts,” Sgambatti says. “These finds carry a lot of social currency in a generation that prioritizes publishing their life online.” Style trends do tend to arrive in cycles think Happy Days portraying the 1950s for the 1970s, or the current Gen-Z crush on Y2K fashion. Plus, a steady diet of nostalgia-rich media from Stranger Things to Barbie has reintroduced retro design to younger audiences. But theres also an emotional component. After years of digital overload and pandemic-era disruptions, were gravitating toward styles that feel warmer, softer more human, even. Colors that carry meaning If you walk by the E.C. Reems Academy, an elementary school in Oakland, California, or Houstons Childrens Assessment Center, you cant miss the vibrant graphic murals done by Berkeley-based Project Color Corps. The group, which helps transform libraries, schools and other community spaces with eye-catching wall art, often uses graphics, typefaces and an overall palette with a 70s and 80s vibe. In the 1970s, we sought solace in warm, earthy tones that symbolized grounding and stability. Browns, oranges, olive greens and deep yellows dominated the aesthetic landscape, reflecting the growing Earth movement, says Laura Guido-Clark, who founded the nonprofit. It was a different aesthetic in the 80s one dripping with materialism, consumerism, the emergence of ”yuppie” culture, says Guido-Clark. “Neon colors, bold patterns and vibrant fashion choices. And theres affection for that, too. Her group recently worked with the design firm Gensler on a lounge space at Chicagos NeoCon trade fair for commercial interior design. The space featured retro-flavored colors and motifs. Genslers design director, Marianne Starke, says the colors draw viewers into a sensory experience that might be rooted in memory: A popsicle on a 90s summer day, an 80s striped T-shirt, a rollerskating rink in the ’70s. Furniture with curves and confidence In furniture, the revival of those slightly distant decades leans toward soft silhouettes, rounded edges and a low-slung vibe. Arched bookshelves, bubble chairs, Lucite tables and terrazzo finishes have all reentered the conversation. Wallpaper and textile patterns feature bold geometrics, Memphis-style squiggles and Pop-Artsy botanicals. Its a deliberate swing away from the chilly gray-on-white-on-gray look that farmhouse modern décor gave us for the past couple of decades. In the process, eras get conflated. Who’s to say whether an inspiration or design comes precisely from the 70s, the 80s or the ’90s or contains elements of all three? Designers are even revisiting some once-controversial elements of the disco era: Smoked glass, chrome accents and mirrored surfaces are making subtle (not a word often used in connection with the 1970s) comebacks in upscale interiors and product lines. Whether its a lava lamp grooving on a media console, daisies and doves dancing on wallpaper, or a sofa rocking a bunch of ruffly chintz pillows, the retro revival feels less like a gimmick and more like a shift in how people want to live integrating elements of the past that offer comfort and delight. As long as those cassette players keep syncing to Bluetooth and we can stream Annie Hall, Saturday Night Fever or Miami Vice, the past, it seems, is here to stay at least until our own moment inevitably becomes a nostalgia play in itself. Kim Cook, Associated Press
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The MrBeast burger. MrBeast toys. Rumors of a MrBeast phone company. Could a MrBeast bank next? The world’s most-subscribed-to YouTuber, with 446 million subscribers, has filed an application with the U.S. Trademark and Patent Office for a service called MrBeast Financial. The recent trademark application for the latest venture from MrBeast — whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson — lists plans for a mobile app and online services for a range of banking, financial advisory, crypto exchange, and other services. The venture has not yet been approved and the full details remain unclear. However, the trademark application, which was filed on Oct. 13, aligns with a 2025 fundraising pitch deck, reported by Business Insider, outlining plans to expand into financial services. Much of MrBeast content is built on the promise of huge cash prizes in exchange for partaking in bizarre tasks. Would You Risk Dying for $500,000? is the title of one video posted this month. Survive 30 Days Chained To Your Ex, Win $250,000, reads another. Now, rather than throwing money at fans, he wants to help them manage it. Having to explain to your wife and 3 kids mrbeast is taking your house away because you didn’t pay your mortgage on time and the only way you can get it back is by winning beast games season 3 on amazon prime, one X user joked. Yet, its easy to see why a self-made 20-something, whos big on philanthropy, would be an appealing financial role-model to MrBeasts predominantly young audience. A 2023 study found that Gen Z places greater importance on being rich than any other age demographic and Gen Alpha are already busy earning big online before they are even old enough to drive. If this latest venture gets off the ground, it would join Donaldsons growing list of companies including chocolate brand, Feastables, packaged food brand, Lunchly, as well as his Amazon Prime series Beast Games. Through these various exploits he achieved billionaire status in 2024. However, he admitted, his mom still controls his bank account.
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Apples mission to remake Apple TV into a streaming hub for sports is on track, literally. Apple will buy exclusive broadcast rights to Formula One (F1) races in the U.S. for the next five years, the company announced Friday. Apple cited the success of F1: The Movie in its decision to partner more deeply with Formula One, as the international motorsport gains a foothold among U.S. viewers. The five-year deal aims to extend the appeal of an Apple TV subscription to a broader swath of viewers while converting existing Apple TV users into racing fans, if things go as planned. Terms of the deal werent disclosed, but reports from CNBC and New York Times-owned The Athletic put it in the ballpark of $140 million. Apple TV will air practice, qualifying, and sprint sessions and Grand Prix events for subscribers, and some races and all practice sessions will be available for free through the Apple TV app. F1s existing subscription service, F1 TV Premium, will remain available in the U.S. only through Apple TV. Were thrilled to expand our relationship with Formula One and offer Apple TV subscribers in the U.S. front-row access to one of the most exciting and fastest-growing sports on the planet, said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services. 2026 marks a transformative new era for Formula Onefrom new teams to new regulations and cars with the best drivers in the worldand we look forward to delivering premium and innovative fan-first coverage to our customers in a way that only Apple can. The deal follows Apples success with the summer blockbuster F1: The Movie, starring Brad Pitt, its highest-grossing original film to date. The movie earned $293 million at the box office 10 days after release and marked a high point for Apples at times faltering film strategy. After earning $629 million at the global box office to date, the racing film will hit Apples streaming service on December 12. Streamers scoop up sports With the Apple deal, F1 will leave its existing media partner, ESPN, for greener pastures. ESPN was paying roughly $90 million for each F1 season, but Apple offered around $140 million to poach broadcast rights to the sport, according to CNBC. Apples move to throw cash at a growing sport to lure it away from a stagnant ESPN contract has echoes of Paramounts recent $7.7 billion play for UFC, which will double what it earns each season under its new terms. In its announcement, Apple notes that it will boost the sport across its suite of apps, including Apple News, Apple Maps, Apple Music, and Apple Fitness+. Apples Sports app will include live F1 updates, real-time leaderboards, driver standings, and a special home screen widget. Apples F1 deal isnt its first foray into sports in the U.S. In 2022, Apple announced a 10-year deal to air all Major League Soccer matches. The company charges $14.99 for MLS Season Pass, its soccer streaming package, on top of an Apple TV subscription, though existing subscribers get a few bucks off. Based in the U.S. and Canada, MLS doesnt approach the popularity of soccer leagues in Europe and South America, but it does host Argentine legend Lionel Messi. Messi signed with Inter Miami in 2023, giving the world a reason to tune in to Apples exclusive MLS streams and earning a revenue-sharing agreement with the tech giant to boost the more than $20 million he makes on the field each season. In 2022, Apple also picked up the streaming rights to weekly Major League Baseball doubleheaders, branded as Friday Night Baseball, during the regular season. The company pays $85 million a season for the games, but its not yet clear if that relationship will continue as MLB negotiates new media rights deals for its games. Even if Apple does back away from its exploratory relationship with MLB, its clear the company sees big potential in owning the rights to stream growing sports in the United States. Soccer and F1 arent exactly niche sports, but neither dominates U.S. viewership like the classic American trifecta of football, basketball, and baseball. With a big boost at the box office over the summer, F1s U.S. growth might be on the cusp of booming, a trend Apple hopes to amplify by bringing its races under the Apple TV umbrella.
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