Eric holders

advertisement advertisement advertisement As he stood below the dome of the U.S. Capitol, newly inaugurated President Joe Biden called for unity in a place where just days before there was violence and insurrection. advertisement advertisement While this was a rallying cry to the American people to come together, his message could equally have been a rallying cry for his Cabinet and advisers. Will this administration’s leaders rise to become the nation’s “First Team?” The incoming Biden administration brings together an extraordinary level of governing experience. The president has convinced two former U.N. ambassadors and a former secretary of state to take on lesser roles, and likewise there has never been a Treasury secretary who has already served as chair of the Federal Reserve. This president has 50 years’ worth of Washington, D.C., relationships, and he is putting them to use in building his team. But in government, … [Read more...] about Advice to President Biden for turning his Cabinet into an effective team

advertisement advertisement advertisement Times have been changing at the San Francisco Symphony. Michael Tilson Thomas, the orchestra’s music director of 25 years, stepped away from his role in 2020. In came innovative Finnish conductor and composer Esa-Pekka Salonen. And with him came the need for new branding that reflected the symphony’s next act. advertisement advertisement Collins for the rebrand, giving it a mission to showcase SFS as the “orchestra of now,” according to SFS creative director Larry Williams. Key to this was establishing SFS as a place of innovation and correcting for classical music’s perception problem: that “classical” equals dusty, static, and historical, not contemporary. The Collins team, led by creative director Louis Mikolay, created a type-forward new brand that’s decidedly contemporary and dynamic, with an elongated serif typeface that, like music, shifts based on mood, context, and medium. The … [Read more...] about Can branding help save classical music?

advertisement advertisement advertisement When Ron Wyden, Cory Booker, and Yvette Clarke introduced their Algorithmic Accountability Act in 2019 , which would have required tech companies to conduct bias audits on their AI, the three sponsors may have been a little early. advertisement advertisement Despite the fact that tech companies were already using artificial intelligence algorithms for a wide range of products and services that touch the lives of millions, the issue of AI bias and its real-world effects remained abstract for many Americans, including many in Washington. The Trump administration was oblivious to the issue, and Republicans showed little interest in Wyden and Booker’s bill, which was never read in committee, much less on the Senate floor. Clarke’s companion bill in the House also didn’t advance. This is part of a series on big ideas that Biden can tackle in his first 100 days . Read the rest of the … [Read more...] about Fighting AI bias needs to be a key part of Biden’s civil rights agenda

advertisement advertisement advertisement Lately we’ve seen lots of obituaries for the office. The pandemic caused a massive shift to work from home (WFH) among knowledge and service workers. Teams are using communication apps like Zoom, Slack, and Microsoft Teams to stay productive. Even though employees are working more hours , people like having more control over their work schedules. They benefit from less commuting, even as the boundaries are blurring between work and home. advertisement advertisement I believe reports of the office’s demise are premature for several reasons, but they all reflect the critical human need for connection. Last spring, a large number of Silicon Valley executives made very public statements indicating their changed minds on the need for an in-person workplace: “We’re working so well from home that we might never go back to the office.” Didn’t they realize that the reason they could … [Read more...] about The office is not dead. Here’s why

advertisement advertisement advertisement While the PR and media layer of Apple’s dispute with Facebook over user tracking by apps may still be going, at a strategic level the drama’s pretty much over, and it’s looking like Apple won. advertisement advertisement In a nutshell, Apple will soon require apps that want to track user’s movements within other companies’ apps or websites to get explicit permission to do so from the user. Facebook’s apps have long done this without such explicit permission. When the new feature, which Apple calls App Tracking Transparency , was announced earlier this year, Facebook complained loudly that the loss of tracking data will hurt Facebook—and will hurt small businesses more by reducing Facebook’s ability to carefully target ads for them. Apple said it has a responsibility to its users to give them transparency and choice over the way their personal data is used. Neither of those statements … [Read more...] about What’s really at stake in Apple and Facebook’s war over user tracking