Braces just for looks

By Rachel Metz , CNN Business Updated 1124 GMT (1924 HKT) May 24, 2022 (CNN Business) Cher Scarlett, a software engineer, has a history of being misidentified by face-scanning technology, including one instance that may have surfaced a distant ancestor in a photo. So when she was introduced to an online facial-recognition tool she hadn't heard of, she wanted to see whether it would mistake photos of her mom or daughter for her. On February 1, Scarlett uploaded some images of her teenage daughter and her mom to PimEyes , a facial-recognition website meant to be used to find pictures of yourself from around the web — ostensibly to help stamp out issues such as revenge porn and identity theft. She didn't get any images of herself in return — pictures of her daughter yielded other kids, she said, while one of her mom led to some pictures of her mother, plus images of other, similar-looking women. Anyone can use this powerful facial-recognition tool — and … [Read more...] about She thought a dark moment in her past was forgotten. Then she scanned her face online

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin At only 43, John Legend has accomplished an incredible amount already in his career. He was the first Black man and youngest artist ever to achieve the coveted EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony). For Legend, all of that success was so he could make a difference in the world. As he recalled when we spoke over Zoom last week he won an essay contest at 15 by saying he would become a famous musician use that fame to make the world a better place. He is helping do that this Memorial Day Weekend when he will headline the Northwell Health "Side By Side" benefit show this Saturday, May 29, at New York's UBS Arena. Legend will perform with Jason DeRulo at a gig that raises money for healthcare services for veterans and their families. I spoke with Legend about why it was especially important for him to support our military during these difficult times, his love of playing life, how artists like Harry Belafonte, Stevie Wonder and … [Read more...] about Q&A: John Legend On Activism, His New Album, Playing Live And Marvin Gaye

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd died before our eyes as a police officer knelt on his neck for approximately 9 minutes on a street in Minneapolis. Had Darnella Frazier, then 17, not captured the murder on her cell phone and posted it to Facebook, Floyd would have been yet another Black man to die in police custody – a statistic. Instead, George Floyd became a powerful symbol of persistent inequality and systemic injustice against Black Americans and a wake-up call for all. The response was historic – from the scores of leaders making forceful statements every day about racial justice to the $50 billion that U.S. companies pledged (but not necessarily paid) to support Black communities. To understand the complexities of where we stand as a nation, though, look no further than the racially motivated mass murder at a Buffalo grocery store on May 14. In an effort to capture the reality of being Black in America, we decided that we wanted to hear from leaders in the community. Here are … [Read more...] about Two Years After George Floyd, Black Leaders Reflect On Change

When Wikipedia revealed its massive website redesign last week, not everyone was thrilled. One reader called the new columns "ludicrously narrow," while another said an image surrounded by white space was "a really bad idea." The larger font and pictures looked nice, but Wikipedia's users liked the old site design , thank you very much--the one that hasn't changed much since the site launched in 2001. Craigslist is another example of a site that refuses to update its look and feel. It relies on email to correspond with users, even in the era of SMS and social networks, and has rarely, if ever, changed its text-heavy design. You can add Drudge Report and Amazon to the same list. These sites might be ignoring design innovation but they seem to be doing just fine. "The desire to redesign or change often comes from the internal people wanting to mix it up or remind people they're out there ," says designer Shane Mielke, who's worked on campaigns for Mazda and Call of … [Read more...] about When It Pays to Have an Ugly Website

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin People with disabilities and chronic illnesses are asking themselves — not for the first time in the last few years — “What do we do now?” As a May 21, 2022 article in The Hill observes, “Americans are ‘checked out’ on COVID-19:” “Even in blue cities, restaurants are packed with people, and many Americans don’t wear masks even on the subway or on airplanes.” If the current surge continues, this may well turn out to be a serious problem for everyone. But this resolutely lax attitude already poses something close to an existential crisis for people with chronic illnesses and disabilities. High risk people today see a combination of more transmissible Covid variants, vaccines that may be losing effectiveness, funding for vaccines and treatments drying up, and public commitment to any sort of precautions just about gone. The disability community sees disaster looming — more mass death and disablement, and a choice … [Read more...] about 4 Things High Risk People Need Now To Fight Covid

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Jason Lee , the media maverick behind Hollywood Unlocked, has had an unique career path. Lee, an LGBTQA+ media personality, author, entrepreneur, and CEO of Hollywood Unlocked (HU) — a leading urban entertainment company — is well-known for his controversial opinions on the entertainment industry. In order to turn over a fresh leaf, Lee has decided to reinvent himself and redefine what he genuinely represents. Lee first appeared on the media landscape in the early 2010s, after leveraging contacts with celebrities and social media influencers to launch the successful online media company Hollywood Unlocked, which spawned the television and radio show Hollywood Unlocked with Jason Lee in 2015. The 44-year-old from Stockton, California, was always spilling tea, although in a different role, before starting his media company. Lee worked for SEIU United Healthcare Workers in California, where he was one of the few black … [Read more...] about Hollywood’s Cultural Critic Jason Lee Dispels Cancel Culture

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin May is Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month , which celebrates the histories of the fastest-growing racial group in America. The AAPI population has increased more than 35% between 2010 and 2020 and is expected to quadruple by 2060, according to the Census Bureau . While celebrating the history of this diverse group, it’s also important to raise awareness about the rise in hate crimes they’ve experienced, and to work to break deep-rooted stereotypes and biases by exploring the history they’re rooted in. Below are some of the biases and myths the AAPI community faces, and the history behind them. The Stereotype: The Forever Foreigner The AAPI community is not a monolith, but encompasses more than 50 ethnic groups , such as China, Vietnam, Korea, India, Cambodia, Japan, the Philippines, Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia , and many others. “Within the Asian American Pacific Islander community, … [Read more...] about The History Behind Common AAPI Stereotypes

Moisture and adventure meets Thai culture and mythology at Andamanda , Thailand’s biggest water park, covering 58 rai of land in Kathu, in Phuket, southern Thailand. On Saturday, Thailand’s former deputy prime minister Suwat Liptapanlop attended the water park’s grand opening. The new theme park is located on the main road to Patong, about 800 metres west of the Samkong intersection, certainly one of the busiest roads on the island for any tourists going in or out of Patong. The Saturday soft-opening was used as a day for the staff to check the flow of a large group of customers, from the car park attendants to the people looking after the rides and pushing you down the slides. Watch The Thaiger’s review of Andamanda HERE . On Saturday, the 4.5 billion baht water park welcomed thousands of guests for the first time, including 1,500 Phuket residents (and three very wet Thaiger YouTube reporters). Andamanda is Thai mythology themed, with 5 zones covering 9.8 hectares … [Read more...] about Thailand’s biggest new attraction “Andamanda” opens in Phuket

advertisement advertisement Access to safe and legal abortion over the last five decades has had a tremendous impact on women. It’s an issue that impacts labor force participation and career opportunity, as well as the health of the economy. As we reported in our recent package, “ The Business Case for Abortion Access,” state-level abortion restrictions also reportedly already cost the U.S. economy about $105 billion each year, due to women leaving the workforce, reducing overall earnings, and increasing turnover. That will only increase as more bans and restrictions go into place. Lack of access to safe and legal abortion also significantly raises the risk of maternal death. And all of this is to say nothing for the outcomes for the children born into families that lack the resources to care for them. We, of course, are still a country without paid parental leave, or universal childcare. But even with national legal abortion, individual experiences … [Read more...] about What it’s like to have employer support for abortion care

The gravity of grief doesn’t often translate over the fast clip of the internet. Obituaries and personal announcements of loss sit alongside the usual jetsam of a Twitter feed. advertisement advertisement In the physical world and in most digital representations, grief has a very specific visual language. It’s flowers and trees, muted colors. The UX design of grief is harder to see, and it’s not something most people think about until they’ve lost someone. But as more of our lives are lived online, more elements of decisions related to death—like estate planning, end-of-life care, and funerals—are playing out online, too. Since its launch in 2010, crowdfunding platform GoFundMe has been a source of both hope and sadness; its wide array of fundraising categories include life’s ups (like “Travel” and “Education”) and downs (like “Emergency” and “Funeral and Memorial”). advertisement advertisement Until recently, the user … [Read more...] about How GoFundMe’s new pages take a sensitive approach to grief