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For years, Ive had a secret ambition tucked away somewhere near the back of my brain. It was to write a simple note-taking appone that wouldnt be overwhelmed with features and that would reflect my own mental filing system. In part, this yen stemmed from my dissatisfaction with existing notetakers. But I also saw the project as an adventure in software development that could only make me a smarter technology user. Just one thing stopped me: The formidable technical knowledge required even just to get started. Im not an utter programming neophyte, but my skills largely atrophied after I graduated from high school and never extended much beyond writing buggy games. Almost everything Id need to know about modern coding Id have to learn from scratch. Or so it seemed. Recently, however, a new wave of AI-infused tools with names such as Replit, Bolt, and Lovable has enabled a phenomenon that OpenAI cofounder Andrej Karpathy has dubbed vibecoding. It doesnt involve coding an app yourself. Instead, you use a chatbot-like interface to tell an AI collaborator what you envision, and let it do the heavy lifting. Youre more product manager than programmer, and while a certain aptitude for technical matters is helpful, the barrier to building something is dramatically lower than in the past. Using a Replit feature called Agent, I put together my dream notes app in a week, finding the process so addictive that I often tinkered into the wee hours. I gave my brainchild a name (Doolee, as in duly noted) and used ChatGPT to design a logomark (a pencil twisted into a lowercase d). Mostly, though, I simply told the Agent what I wanted, including features that occurred to me as I was overseeing the project. The web-based result runs on my iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and doesnt feel much different than a native-app version might have. It requires a little more fit and finish before I can declare it complete, but Im already smitten with it. As a product team of one building an app with an intended user base of one, I aimed only to please myself. Ive always loved sticky notes as a metaphor for note managementtheyre informal, quick, and flexible. So I asked Replits Agent to make my app look like a searchable wall of them. It took just a few minutes to rough out a minimum-viable-product version. From there, I just kept tweaking and adding more capabilities, drawing inspiration from my favorite features in other notetakers Ive used over the decades, from a 1990s DOS program called Info Select to Evernote to the one Ive been using recently, Bear. I had the Agent program features such as a search bar right at the top, a hashtag browser, and lists for task management and other purposes. I made it turn URLs into little cards that display page titles and source sites. I got it to sync notes back and forth between devices, including in scenarios where the app might not have access to the internet and would need to sync later. Even a week ago, I wouldnt have guessed I could will something so professional-looking into existence. Whats it like collaborating with a software engineer that happens to be a piece of software itself? Throughout the development effort, the Replit Agent almost always grasped my requests without me having to spell out every detail. Its first drafts of new featureswritten using web technologies, such as TypeScript and React, that are far beyond my kenwere often solid. When they werent, I provided feedback to nudge it in the right direction. It came off as calm and persistent, and often heaped praise on my feature requests (Thats a fantastic idea!) in a manner that was somehow synthetic and charming. But as our collaboration progressed, it became clearer that the Agent doesnt really think like a human. It couldnt use the app it was constructing; verifying that everything worked was part of my job. At every step, the AI appeared to be puzzling out the project, as if it hadnt been involved all along. Fortunately, it was a quick study. I also learned not to trust the Agent too much. Whenever it finished debugging a problem area, it declared that work to have been a success, which it often wasnt, especially at first. Weirder still, at one point, the Agent helpfully proposed adding a feature that would turn audio recordings into text. When I took it up on the offer, I saw no evidence that it followed through. A snippet of my conversation with Replits Agent Even if the Agent proved overconfident and obtuse at times, the end result is an app I could never have produced on my own. Even if Id hired a competent human programmer, I doubt that Id have ended up with something that made me so happy so quickly. Speaking of paying programmers: The basic free Replit plan might whet your appetite to the services possibilities, but youll probably need to spring for one of the paid tiers to tackle serious projects. I maxed out the $20-per-month one I signed up for pretty quickly and ended up investing almost $300 in producing Doolee. I will also be paying Replit fees to host my app, though they shouldnt add up to a fortune as long as Im the only user. Given how long Ive craved building something like this, I dont find the cost unreasonable. Along with learning something about the highs and lows of AI-centric product development, I came away from this venture even more attuned to the ways productivity software in its conventional form can bog us down. With off-the-shelf apps, were at the mercy of design decisions we had nothing to do with. Most products are trying to please everybody, which leads to feature bloat. Anything with much historyMicrosoft Word turns 42 this yearis likely to be particularly cluttered with cruft. The tech industrys conventional wisdom says that users typically ignore a huge percentage of the features in the software they use. (The exact figure cited varies, but Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told me that Office users tend to utilize just 5% of its features.) The only way around this conundrum would be to create your own apps, built with only the features you want, implemented as you see fit. Until tols such as Replit came along, that would have been a pipe dream for most of us. Now its an everyday reality, albeit one thats still slightly mind-bending. I cant wait to see where it goesand I hope to use my Doolee app for years to come. You’ve been reading Plugged In, Fast Company‘s weekly tech newsletter from me, global technology editor Harry McCracken. If a friend or colleague forwarded this edition to youor if you’re reading it on FastCompany.comyou can check out previous issues and sign up to get it yourself every Friday morning. I love hearing from you: Ping me at hmccracken@fastcompany.com with your feedback and ideas for future newsletters. I’m also on Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads, and you can follow Plugged In on Flipboard.
Category:
E-Commerce
Among other things, Donald Trump is a logophile. He loves words. For instance, he adores the word tariffs so much, hes called it a “beautiful word, his favorite word, and music to [his] ears. Its his cellar door, apparently. On Wednesday, while announcing the broad, seemingly indiscriminate application of that wonderful word during a much-hyped speech in the White House Rose Garden, Trump lingered on another word he loves: groceries. Its such an old-fashioned term but a beautiful term: groceries, the president of the United States said while placing tariffs as high as 50% on territories as small as Lesotho, a move that sent stocks plunging on Thursday. He then went on to define groceries”a bag with a lot of different things in itand describe how much hed used this beautiful word back on the campaign trail. Although its certainly true that Trump mentioned groceries a lot in the lead-up to the election, the way he did should have warned all Americans then that the price of that beautiful word would be about to go up. Since November, Trump has boasted many times that he won the election because of groceries, a word he confoundingly claims has fallen out of common vernacular. (Like almost, you know, who uses the word? he asked on Newsmax in December. I started using the word. The groceries.) Trump suggested more recently that, whether or not the word has fallen out of favor, people understand ita truth made obvious from so many consumers despairing back in February over the scarcity of eggs at the stores selling that beautiful word. Bringing up groceries a lot on the campaign trail was part of a shrewd campaign strategy. Inflation hit a four-decade high in 2022, midway through President Bidens lone term, in reaction to the pandemic. While the economy had shown strong signs of recovery throughout 2024, those signs had not necessarily translated to lower-price stickers on pantry items, for a variety of reasons. Highlighting groceries as a context-free pain point was an easy way for Trump to disparage the Biden economyso he did it a lot. Talking about the improbable endurance of the word groceries became one of his regular rally bits, like invoking the late great Hannibal Lecter for reasons nobody could discern. What should have smelled to those rally goers like the fish section of the grocery store is Trump talking about those high prices like someone who observes them from a distant financial planet. “So many people mention groceries, he said during a typical rally, before acting out someone complaining about the price of groceries. Many politicians make pained efforts to come across as relatable; Trump, to his credit, would never stoop to pretend hed noticed the jacked-up prices organically, during a random Trader Joes run. Instead, he positioned himself as a benevolent billionaire, swooping in to shower cash-strapped constituents with savings. In a September publicity stunt, he even popped into Sprankles Neighborhood Market in Pennsylvania and hobnobbed with customersEggs are up 54%, you believe that?”before picking up one womans bill and attempting to tip the cashiers like golf caddies. But distancing himself so much from the realm of supermarket patronage also suggested he had very little knowledge of grocery store fundamentals. As much as he loved to conjure common folk coming up to him with tears in their eyes to grouse about groceries, Trump seemed loath to talk about them in any way other than abstractions. When asked in a March 2024 interview on Fox News about how he would bring down grocery store prices in his first hundred days, he punted the question. Closer to the election, at a September town hall event in Flint, Michigan, an audience member asked a similar query. This time, he offered an actual answera long, winding rant about energy, farmers, and windmills, and someone coming up to Trump with tears in their eyes and addressing him as “sir.” Amid the word salad, though, is a hint at the tariffs he announced on Wednesday. And the problem we have is other countries, they treat us very badly in that way, Trump said. They really are. And sometimes, the worst countries are our so-called allies. I say so-called because in many ways they’re not allies at all. They take advantage of us. They really take advantage. Essentially, he hinted that his strategy involved slapping tariffs on enemies and allies alikethe finer details and overarching wisdom of which is apparently self-evident. It made about as much sense at the time as the South Park Underpants Gnomes, whose three-phase plan famously started with “Collect underpants,” ended with “Profit,” and had a question mark in the middle. Trumps plan doesnt make much more sense six months later, now that its actually happening. While the wide-ranging tariffs have only just been announced, Trumps been beta-testing tariffs for months as a cudgel against Canada and other countries. The results do not seem to be inspiring confidence. Only 40% of Americans approve of Trumps handling of the economy, according to recent polling, and the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index fell from 79.4% in March 2024 to 57% in March 2025. Even Republican politicians including Senators Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul acknowledge that these tariffs are bound to raise pricesinclding those of Trumps beloved groceries. Particularly prices for coffee, bananas, cereal, spices, and toilet paper. If he doesnt reverse course soon, Trumps tariffs could very well lead to a word he probably finds a lot less beautiful: recession.
Category:
E-Commerce
When the Ring Pop factory in Scranton, Pennsylvania, unexpectedly shut down last summer because of a shaky floor, it abruptly halted production of tens of millions of the iconic oversized candy bauble lollipops that come attached to a cheap plastic ring meant to be worn on a finger. It was a shocking moment for an American candy brand whose enduring popularity spans at least five generations of consumers. Everyone knows Ring Pop. All I have to do is put its shape in front of somebody and they know immediately what it is, says Tony Jacobs, CEO of Ring Pop maker, Bazooka Candy Brands. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/03\/bagable_logo.jpg","headline":"Bagable","description":"Discover the brands and trends to shop, by Parija Kavilanz. To learn more visit bagable.com","substackDomain":"https:\/\/www.bagable.com","colorTheme":"salmon","redirectUrl":""}} After seven months, a new Ring Pop factory opened in Pennsylvania in March. New York-based Bazooka Candy Brands is doubling down on not only quickly closing the supply gap for Ring Pops triggered by the shuttered plant but has also set ambitious new production targets for the candy. We should be able to fill up the pipeline by June, Jacob says, adding that the new factory is expected to churn out nearly double the amount of Ring Pops made annually. [Photo: Bazooka Candy Brands] Shut everything down Since 1977, the stickless lollipop has been made in a 30,000-square-foot plant in Scranton that cranked out as many as 280 million Ring Pops annually. A novelty confectionery, and among the most recognized hard candy brands in the market, Ring Pop has captivated generations of sweet treat seekersfrom Gen Xers to Gen Alphafor decades. Ring Pop, which sells for under $1 to about $1.50 a piece, was consistently growing sales over the last decade, with year-over-year brand sales up 7% at the end of last year. That number doesnt even fully include our ecommerce sales, Jacobs says. On August 29, 2024, everything came to a grinding halt, except the ground beneath the Ring Pops Scranton plant. [Photo: Bazooka Candy Brands] I remember that day very clearly, says Jacobs. Weve had movement in the ground under our factory and the floor had become unstable. Its no secret that Scranton has a lot of mines and there are mine shafts under our factory. We decided we had to shut everything down until we knew exactly what was going on. Jacobs says that it was a tough decision, knowing the impact it would have on the company and the brand. In a lot of ways, Ring Pop is our flagship product. But it was also an easy decision because it was a question about safety, he says. But the factory closure also created a supply crunch that slowed down Ring Pops momentum. I can tell you right now that its been painful not having a facility. Historically, we have outstripped the candy confectionery sales growth for our brands by how we innovate and market our candy products, says Jacobs. Right now, we’re not outpacing the category because we havent had supply. According to the National Confectioners Association, total confectionery sales in the U.S. reached $54 billion in 2024. A little over half of sales were driven by purchases of chocolate products (52%) and 40% by candy (excluding gum). In 2024, overall chocolate sales reached $28.1 billion, up from $25.9 billion in 2023, while non-chocolate candy sales reached $21.7 billion last year, up from $19.2 billion in 2023. [Image: Bazooka Candy Brands] ‘Were about edible entertainment’ With Ring Pop, especially, both the brand and consumersincluding a few celebrities like Drake, Joe Jonas, and Sophie Turnerhave leaned into its quirkiness to create viral moments in a way thats given the affordable lollipop a multi-generation appeal. Everything that we do is around not just hand-to-mouth candy. Theres a lot of great candy out there, but were about edible entertainment, Jacobs says. Thats play value, and viral value that really helps define our portfolio of candy brands. To have a product thats been around for 48 years, thats over the top, that people want to engage with and talk about, and it’s become a kind of social currency, is even more important, he says. We see Ring Pop packs at kids birthday parties and at bridal showers. Bazooka Candy Brandss other candy products include Push Pop, Juicy Pop, Bazooka Bubble Gum, and Baby Bottle Pop candy. Another current market trend in Ring Pops favor is that, a younger demographic, Gen Z and Millennials, are a little bit more interested in non-chocolate options. Its just their taste and preference, said Christopher Gindlesperger, spokesperson with the National Confectioners Associations. A prime example of that is the explosion in popularity of squishy, chewy gummy candies. Last year, peelable gummy candies went viral and retailers scrambled to source and stock them fter TikTokers couldnt get enough of tiny mango-shaped gummy candies that you could, indeed, peel like a real mango fruit to reveal an inner gummy pulp candy and an edible gummy outer peel. Bazooka Brands says for Ring Pop, its biggest fans currently are even younger. Theyre Gen Alpha. While we dont have exact figures on the breakdown of Ring Pop purchasers by generation, we do know that the brand over-indexes with households that have kids ages six to 12, making Gen Alpha the primary consumers, says Becky Silberfarb, the companys vice president of brand marketing for the Americas. Jacobs expects Ring Pop to fully close its supply gap and reestablish its brand dominance in the market within six months. The comeback plan begins with a move into the new factory. The company last week inaugurated a 120,000-square-foot factory in Moosic, Pennsylvania, about seven miles from the Scranton plant. The new plant, with just over 100 employees, will produce up to 1.5 million Ring Pops a day. Our business has been growing. We need more manufacturing and more product, says Jacobs. Once we have our full production lines up and running efficiently, we should be getting close to 400 million Ring Pops made annually out of the new facility, he says. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/03\/bagable_logo.jpg","headline":"Bagable","description":"Discover the brands and trends to shop, by Parija Kavilanz. To learn more visit bagable.com","substackDomain":"https:\/\/www.bagable.com","colorTheme":"salmon","redirectUrl":""}}
Category:
E-Commerce
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