How to build a table with leaves

In 2020, 56% of Americans agreed that journalists were purposely trying to mislead people, illustrating an unprecedented dip in confidence in the press. With that backdrop, and in an election year with peak political polarization, rolling out a brand-new media publication was “absurd,” admits Nabiha Syed, president of The Markup , a digital outlet focused on holding tech companies accountable. “How are we going to get people to trust us when they’ve never heard of us, especially when we are interrogating tools that people are using and are sometimes beloved?” advertisement advertisement But the founders felt that the site’s mission was critical: to investigate the power and practices of Big Tech. Plus, it was going to do things differently. The Markup is nonprofit newsroom, funded by philanthropists, including more than $20 million from Craigslist founder Craig Newmark. It is data-driven, and only publishes about twice a week, in order to be as … [Read more...] about This news outlet is exposing Big Tech’s practices by building its own tech tools

This story is part of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business 2022 . Explore the full list of innovators who broke through this year—and had an impact on the world around us. advertisement advertisement Picture the coolest, most ridiculously awesome room you can imagine. Maybe it’s got a golf simulator and a billiards table, or radiant-heat floors, or polychromatic India Mahdavi furniture, or meticulously cultivated hygge. Whatever it is, whatever you’re envisioning, it would be even better if it had a secret door leading to another room. And of course, a secret door has to reveal itself in some sick way, like how you run through a wall to get to track 9 3⁄4, or wade through a coat closet to get to Narnia, or turn a bronze eagle on a bookshelf, or push the correct button on a soda machine. It can’t just be a switch labeled secret door, though that’d be kind of funny. That kind of meta humor would be very on-brand for Mark Rober, except … [Read more...] about How Mark Rober became the Willy Wonka of engineering

Peter Bergen is CNN's national security analyst, a vice president at New America and a professor of practice at Arizona State University. Bergen's new paperback is "The Rise and fall of Osama bin Laden." from which this article is, in part, adapted. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion on CNN. (CNN) In 1961, after a CIA-backed invasion of Cuba failed spectacularly, President John F. Kennedy said of the Bay of Pigs fiasco, "Victory has 100 fathers and defeat is an orphan." Peter Bergen Last week, President Joe Biden took a victory lap when he announced that the US had tracked down and killed its most wanted terrorist, al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who was living in a house in Kabul, Afghanistan. Don't expect a similar celebration on August 30, the first anniversary of the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, which ended the longest war in American history. Any realistic assessment of that action shows that it … [Read more...] about Opinion: Biden’s Afghanistan exit decision looks even worse a year later

To become truly successful at licensing your new product ideas, you must know the industry you're inventing for like the back of your hand. There's no better way of getting to know an industry than by attending its annual trade show. Between the cost of transportation, lodging, and food, it's true that expenses quickly add up. Plan ahead, because there are numerous benefits. In my opinion, these are among the most significant. 1. The inspiration you receive from checking out the new innovation. I can almost guarantee that you will walk away with new ideas for products. Trade shows are exhilarating! You will feel reenergized. 2. Face-to-face meetings. When you can connect with people in your industry with the click of a button over LinkedIn, does meeting in person still have value? Even more, I'd argue. If your goal is to build a long-term working relationship that benefit both parties, there is simply no replacement for shaking someone's hand and looking them in the … [Read more...] about 7 Reasons Product Developers Should Attend Trade Shows

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Famous Churchill Downs racetrack - you have to see it in person to appreciate it. I’ll Have Another, as in I’ll Have Another Kentucky Derby, hopefully as soon as next year. I just returned from Louisville, Churchill Downs, and “The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports,” and I can sum my experience up in one word: Awesome. I’ve been to a lot of major sporting events, including the Super Bowl, and the argument could be made that the Kentucky Derby is the best of all, mainly because it is about so much more than the race itself. Go to the World Series or NBA Finals and you get 3 hours of entertainment. Much of the fun surrounding the Super Bowl is in the form of invitation-only parties and VIP events, not the game. But the Kentucky Derby is the complete package, morning to night fun - for two full days - at a minimum. You don’t have to know anything about horse racing to love the Derby, with all its pomp and … [Read more...] about The Kentucky Derby: Great Fun And A Must-Do For Your Bucket List

- A + A KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 9): The constitutional amendments to prohibit Members of Parliament (MPs) from switching parties are expected to be enforced in the middle of September at the latest, said Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar. The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) said this expectation is consistent with the timeline set out on the tabling and approval of the constitution amendment Bill, which requires the consent of Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah. “I am very confident that His Majesty is sensitive to this Bill, and if my reading is right, not later than middle of September (its enforcement). “Of course, we are hoping (for it to be enforced before the 15th general election). I can’t predict but once we have sent to Istana, we need to give time to His Majesty to study the Bill before giving his consent,” he told a press conference at Parliament building on Tuesday (Aug 9). He … [Read more...] about Anti-party-hopping law expected to be enforced by mid-September, says Wan Junaidi

In her article "The Real Danger of Going on 'Shark Tank': Copycats" for the Wall Street Journal last weekend, writer Ruth Simon documents the consequences of going public with your product idea. If it's promising, it will be imitated quickly... and even if it isn't, others may accuse you of being a thief. As an example, Simon relays the ordeal of Lori Cheek, an entrepreneur who appeared on the show in 2014. Her dating business still doesn't have any revenue. "But it has accumulated more than $60,000 in legal bills, after a viewer of the show accused Ms. Cheek of stealing his idea." Ouch. Here's the reality: If you have a great new product, it will get copied. Even if you have a patent, trademark, and/or copyright protection. In my opinion, it's literally impossible to protect anything these days. Reverse engineering is as doable as ever. If counterfeiters don't steal from you outright, a close alternative may pop up on the market. And make no mistake. It's not just … [Read more...] about So, You’ve Been Knocked Off. Congratulations!

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin It hides in plain sight in a Seattle neighborhood. A building that would not attract even a hint of curiosity. Inside it’s a bit of a different story as this seemingly bare-bones structure serves as the fulfillment center for Blue Nile , the world’s largest Internet retailer of diamond jewelry. It’s easy to view Blue Nile solely as an early eCommerce success story but perhaps its greatest feat is the ability to produce and ship jewels in a highly efficient manner  based on the individual requirements of an online order. This efficiency is one of the ways it earns the trusts of customers making a highly emotional purchase. The nondescript nature of the facility is due to security concerns. The merchandise is highly valuable, consisting of diamonds, colored gems and precious metals. Inside, multiple doors are used to enter and leave certain areas for security purposes. Workers were not identified in the story for the same … [Read more...] about How Blue Nile Delivered A Million Pieces Of Bridal Jewelry

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Both oil and gas exported from Russia bring in significant revenue that can be used to support the Russian war in Ukraine. But the export revenue from oil sales is much greate r than export revenue from gas sales. If the West stops buying oil this really hurts Russia – more than if the West stopped buying gas. Back in May, the EU agreed to ban all Russian oil imports by the end of 2022, at least those that are delivered by sea. That was a good move. Russia threatens to cut gas supplies to the European Union. Russia has realized that cutting natural gas doesn’t affect their export revenue (like oil does) but it affects the economies of EU countries a lot more. Russia supplied the EU with 40% of its gas last year , with Germany, Italy, and Netherlands the top three importers in actual volumes of gas. Germany had imported more than 50% of its gas from Russia via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. By the end of June, … [Read more...] about Russia Threatens, EU Reduces, US Industry Helps To Untangle The Natural Gas War In Europe.

New York (CNN Business) Kaicheng Yang, a researcher at Indiana University's Observatory on Social Media, received quite the surprise last week. Botometer , a tool he helped build to examine automated activity on Twitter, had been mentioned in court documents in the legal battle between Twitter and Elon Musk over their $44 billion acquisition deal . Musk, who originally said part of his plan for owning Twitter was to "defeat the spam bots," has more recently accused Twitter of lying about the number of bots on its platform, and has argued he should be able to walk away from the deal if Twitter won't provide the information necessarily to back up its publicly reported estimates. Twitter ( TWTR ) has sued Musk in an effort to compel him to complete the deal. Elon Musk's legal team has publicly filed its official response to Twitter's lawsuit Musk's answer to Twitter's lawsuit , which was made public Friday, states that the billionaire's team … [Read more...] about Elon Musk cited this tool in his bot dispute with Twitter. Its creator has thoughts