advertisement advertisement advertisement In the first-ever season of Sesame Street , in 1970, cast member Bob McGrath appeared in a memorable sketch where he receives a delivery from his local grocer, a grumpy blue muppet. “Did you get everything I ordered?” McGrath asks. “No,” comes the reply, but he’s helpfully supplemented the delivery with other fresh veggies. McGrath breaks into song, a version of the now iconic “People in Your Neighborhood,” to explain to kids the role a grocer plays in the community. The grocer is the bearer of sustenance. advertisement advertisement A few weeks ago, during Super Bowl LV, “People in Your Neighborhood” got remixed into an anthem for the app-based delivery platform DoorDash to signal to the world that it is expanding from restaurants to convenience and grocery. In a crisp 60 seconds, a tap dancing Daveed Diggs ( Hamilton )—directed by French auteur Michel Gondry ( Eternal Sunshine of … [Read more...] about If DoorDash wins, what do we lose?
Stanford business school
With a wearable reportedly in the works, Facebook continues a quiet push into health
advertisement advertisement advertisement Every big tech company these days seems to have a health tracker, and now that includes Facebook. advertisement advertisement Last week, The Information reported that the social networking company is working on a wearable health tracker it’s planning to launch next year. At first glance, it’s unclear why Facebook would invest in a piece of hardware that seems unrelated to its core business. But the company has actually been creeping into the health category for years through a series of projects that haven’t garnered a ton of attention. There are a few reasons why Facebook might want to get into the wearable business. Health aside, Facebook may be keen to put its apps even closer to consumers, and The Information article indicates the watch will have an emphasis on messaging. A tracker could help boost engagement among Facebook’s billions of users by sending them notifications for … [Read more...] about With a wearable reportedly in the works, Facebook continues a quiet push into health
How teachers are emerging as the tastemakers of collaborative technology
advertisement advertisement advertisement In today’s fast-changing remote environment, virtual presenting is the new way business and education communication is done. When I say virtual presenting I’m referring to when you share your content in-screen during a video call or recorded video, while maintaining the ability to keep your video presence alongside your content and interact with your visuals versus hiding behind them (similar to how your local weather person operates). advertisement advertisement Research shows virtual presentations lead to more engaging communication . Virtual presenters naturally choreograph their movement to go hand-in-hand with the content, and the in-screen content brings to life their talk-track. Today, there are surprisingly few people even presenting with the screen-share function on video calls. This seems to be because they don’t want to hide behind their content. However, with the ability … [Read more...] about How teachers are emerging as the tastemakers of collaborative technology
Why Los Angeles was the epicenter of the Varsity Blues college admissions scandal
advertisement advertisement advertisement Harvard-Westlake’s upper-school campus sits in the craggy foothills of Coldwater Canyon, a sylvan corner of the city where luxury SUVs careen down winding, wooded roads that splinter off into cul-de-sacs dotted with midcentury architectural master- pieces wedged into the mountainside—or leaning against it on terrifying one-hundred-foot stilts. Here, nature and wealth seamlessly coexist in a kind of stubborn harmony. If you can dream it, you can build it, mudslides and gravity be damned. Situated less precariously, at the foot of the canyon, Harvard-Westlake brings an old-world vibe to these distinctly LA environs. advertisement advertisement Harvard-Westlake originally functioned as a finishing school for young white Protestant males—who dined on lobster Newburg and caught glimpses of Clark Gable trotting across campus on horseback—but today the school is much more ethnically if not … [Read more...] about Why Los Angeles was the epicenter of the Varsity Blues college admissions scandal
‘This is bigger than just Timnit’: How Google tried to silence a critic and ignited a movement
advertisement advertisement advertisement Timnit Gebru—a giant in the world of AI and then co-lead of Google’s AI ethics team—was pushed out of her job in December. advertisement advertisement Gebru had been fighting with the company over a research paper that she’d coauthored, which explored the risks of the AI models that the search giant uses to power its core products—the models are involved in almost every English query on Google , for instance. The paper called out the potential biases (racial, gender, Western, and more) of these language models, as well as the outsize carbon emissions required to compute them. Google wanted the paper retracted, or any Google-affiliated authors’ names taken off; Gebru refused. After the company abruptly announced Gebru’s departure, Google AI chief Jeff Dean insinuated that her work was not up to snuff—despite Gebru’s credentials and history of groundbreaking research . The backlash … [Read more...] about ‘This is bigger than just Timnit’: How Google tried to silence a critic and ignited a movement