from Fast Company If you’re tired of wearing a DIY mask, a new hoodie offers another option: a built-in mask, made from a material that can (theoretically) filter out more germs than an N95 mask, zips up into the hood—which is itself a filter. The hoodie, which is available for preorder now, is the latest design from G95, a company that also makes scarves that double as air filters. Founder Carlton Solle launched the company three years ago after getting sick on a business trip to China; a doctor told him that high levels of air pollution might be the […]
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Where’s Waldo? in the Social Distancing Age
from kottke Finding Waldo is a lot easier when no one can go outside. On his Instagram, art director Pedro Mezzini reimagined Where’s Waldo for the age of social distancing. He’s even wearing a mask! See also Clay Bennett’s version. More here.
Continue readingFacial Recognition for People Wearing Masks
from Schneier on Security The Chinese facial recognition company Hanwang claims it can recognize people wearing masks: The company now says its masked facial recognition program has reached 95 percent accuracy in lab tests, and even claims that it is more accurate in real life, where its cameras take multiple photos of a person if the first attempt to identify them fails. […] Counter-intuitively, training facial recognition algorithms to recognize masked faces involves throwing data away. A team at the University of Bradford published a study last year showing they could train a facial recognition program to accurately recognize half-faces […]
Continue readingSome Shirts Hide You From Cameras—But Will Anyone Wear Them?
from ars technica Right now, you’re more than likely spending the vast majority of your time at home. Someday, however, we will all be able to leave the house once again and emerge, blinking, into society to work, travel, eat, play, and congregate in all of humanity’s many bustling crowds. The world, when we eventually enter it again, is waiting for us with millions of digital eyes—cameras, everywhere, owned by governments and private entities alike. Pretty much every state out there has some entity collecting license plate data from millions of cars—parked or on the road—every day. Meanwhile all kinds […]
Continue readingGustave Eiffel’s Original Drawings for the Statue of Liberty
from kottke Long thought destroyed or lost forever, a cache of original engineering drawings & blueprints for the Statue of Liberty done by Gustave Eiffel were found among some of Eiffel’s papers purchased at auction last year. Smithsonian magazine has the story of how they came to be found and why the drawings are so significant. More here.
Continue reading4 Ways To Boost Your Chances Of Landing A New Job During The Pandemic
from Fast Company The coronavirus crisis has the world economy in upheaval. If you’re not already hurting, you surely know someone who is. Layoffs, shutdowns, cutbacks, and salary cuts are happening across industries, both blue collar and white. The nation is in a state of emergency, and we’re all but certainly heading toward, if not already in, a recession. The temptation to set aside our focus on work is understandable, especially when the primary concern should be for our health and the health of our friends and family. But the truth is, especially with all the upheaval underway, you may […]
Continue readingHow To Quickly Capture Today’s Untapped Business Opportunities
from Forbes During an economic downturn, if you look close enough, there are always industries that are doing better than they ever did. What’s interesting is that despite the economy’s negative impact on buyers’ purchasing power, the demand for certain companies’ products is so high that even the leaders of the industry cannot keep up with demand. Will you do something about it? Entrepreneurs owe their leadership, hustle, problem-solving skills and risk-taking to those in need. You know there’s a promising business opportunity when you see people ready to spend their money but can’t find anyone to take it. This […]
Continue readingThese Are The Industries That Are Hiring For Professional Roles Now
from Fast Company If you’re looking for a gig to help pay the bills, grocery stores and delivery companies need help—and fast. But if you’re looking for something permanent or want to take the next step in your career, you may be able to find a professional role, too, says Michelle Armer, chief people officer at the job site CareerBuilder. “There is definitely still a demand for professional and management workers across many different industries,” she says. The catch is that you’ve got to act fast. As unemployment rates continue rise, more job seekers are scouring the market. We spoke […]
Continue readingThese Are The Industries That Are Hiring For Professional Roles Now
from Fast Company If you’re looking for a gig to help pay the bills, grocery stores and delivery companies need help—and fast. But if you’re looking for something permanent or want to take the next step in your career, you may be able to find a professional role, too, says Michelle Armer, chief people officer at the job site CareerBuilder. “There is definitely still a demand for professional and management workers across many different industries,” she says. The catch is that you’ve got to act fast. As unemployment rates continue rise, more job seekers are scouring the market. We spoke […]
Continue reading‘Scared to Death’ by Arbitration: Companies Drowning in Their Own System
from NYTs Teel Lidow couldn’t quite believe the numbers. Over the past few years, the nation’s largest telecom companies, like Comcast and AT&T, have had a combined 330 million customers. Yet annually an average of just 30 people took the companies to arbitration, the forum where millions of Americans are forced to hash out legal disputes with corporations. Mr. Lidow, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur with a law degree, figured there had to be more people upset with their cable companies. He was right. Within a few months, Mr. Lidow found more than 1,000 people interested in filing arbitration claims against […]
Continue readingCOVID-19 Has Thrust Universities Into Online Learning?—How Should They Adapt?
from Brookings There is one golden rule for flying with an infant or toddler: Do whatever it takes to get through the flight peacefully with no harm done. Every parent knows this means relaxing their standards. Planting your kid in front of an iPad screen or giving them not so healthy treats might not win you a “parent of the year” award, but it’s what is needed in the moment. In like fashion, much of the global higher education community is suddenly thrust into an unplanned, unwanted, and fraught experiment in online learning with the COVID-19 pandemic. For many of […]
Continue readingZoombombing Is A Crime, Not A Prank, Prosecutors Warn
from ars technica Coronavirus-related social distancing measures have given a big popularity boost to Zoom, a video conferencing platform that’s known for its ease of use but not necessarily strong security or privacy protections. Internet trolls and other troublemakers have responded with “Zoombombing”: joining Zoom meetings uninvited and disrupting them. Zoombombers have exposed themselves to schoolchildren and shouted racial slurs. In a Friday statement, federal prosecutors in Michigan warned the public that Zoombombing isn’t a harmless prank; it’s a crime. “Hackers are disrupting conferences and online classrooms with pornographic and/or hate images and threatening language,” wrote the US Attorney’s Office […]
Continue readingWho Should Be Saved First? Experts Offer Ethical Guidance
from NYTs How do doctors and hospitals decide who gets potentially lifesaving treatment and who doesn’t? A lot of thought has been given to just such a predicament, well before critical shortages from the coronavirus pandemic. “It would be irresponsible at this point not to get ready to make tragic decisions about who lives and who dies,” said Dr. Matthew Wynia, director of the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Colorado. Facing this dilemma recently — who gets a ventilator or a hospital bed — Italian doctors sought ethical counsel and were told to consider an approach […]
Continue readingDuring the Pandemic, the FCC Must Provide Internet for All
from Wired IF ANYONE BELIEVED access to the internet was not essential prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, nobody is saying that today. With ongoing stay-at-home orders in most states, high-speed broadband internet access has become a necessity to learn, work, engage in commerce and culture, keep abreast of news about the virus, and stay connected to neighbors, friends, and family. Yet nearly a third of American households do not have this critical service, either because it is not available to them, or, as is more often the case, they cannot afford it. Lifeline is a government program that seeks to […]
Continue readingSurprising Study Finds That Creativity Is Not Actually Right Brain–It Is Left Brain
from Fast Company Time to implode one of your sacred cows: Creative excellence is mostly driven by the left brain, not the right brain, according to new research. This flies in the face of all of our popular notions about how right-brain thinkers are free-spirited creatives while left-brain thinkers are steeped in logic and analytics. In a new study in the journal NeuroImage, researchers at Drexel University conducted EEG scans while 32 guitarists to improvise jazz to six leads (songs). They found the guitarists’ brain activity to be almost entirely left-brain. A caveat: Inexperienced improvisers displayed right-brain activity and, not surprisingly, […]
Continue readingHow To Keep Your Business Thriving During (And After) The Coronavirus
from Fast Company Google. Amazon. Apple. These were some of the earliest corporations that mandated remote working because of COVID-19. Since then, nearly all businesses have followed suit as national and global agencies recommend social distancing to curb the spread of the virus. For huge firms with seemingly unlimited resources and technology, this displacement may be nothing more than a minor inconvenience. Leaders of smaller businesses are likely struggling with a new reality where social distancing is a requirement, not a suggestion. Previously, remote work was more a perk than a necessity for companies. Before the pandemic, just 41 percent […]
Continue readingPrivacy vs. Surveillance in the Age of COVID-19
from Schneier on Security The trade-offs are changing: As countries around the world race to contain the pandemic, many are deploying digital surveillance tools as a means to exert social control, even turning security agency technologies on their own civilians. Health and law enforcement authorities are understandably eager to employ every tool at their disposal to try to hinder the virus even as the surveillance efforts threaten to alter the precarious balance between public safety and personal privacy on a global scale. Yet ratcheting up surveillance to combat the pandemic now could permanently open the doors to more invasive […]
Continue readingFive Steps To Avoid Election Misinformation
from News Literacy Project Nothing is more fundamental to democracy than information. It’s what we use to understand which issues are most important, and to assess which policies and political candidates are best suited to address those concerns. A democracy thrives when its citizens are informed and can wither when they are misled and deceived — especially in an election year, when political messaging appears nonstop in our social-media feeds and foreign agents amp up their campaigns to divide and polarize us. As the 2020 presidential campaign heats up, here are five ways that you can protect yourself from being […]
Continue readingWho Should Be Saved First? Experts Offer Ethical Guidance
from NYTs How do doctors and hospitals decide who gets potentially lifesaving treatment and who doesn’t? A lot of thought has been given to just such a predicament, well before critical shortages from the coronavirus pandemic. “It would be irresponsible at this point not to get ready to make tragic decisions about who lives and who dies,” said Dr. Matthew Wynia, director of the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Colorado. Facing this dilemma recently — who gets a ventilator or a hospital bed — Italian doctors sought ethical counsel and were told to consider an approach […]
Continue readingThe Untold Story of the Man That Made Mainstream Encryption Possible
from One Zero Bailey Whitfield Diffie, born June 5, 1944, was always an independent sort. As one early friend remarked, “The kid had an alternative lifestyle at age five.” Diffie didn’t read until he was 10 years old. There was no question of disability, he simply preferred that his parents read to him, which seemingly they did, quite patiently. Finally, in the fifth grade, Diffie spontaneously worked his way through a tome called The Space Cat, and immediately progressed to the Oz books. Later that year his teacher at P.S. 178 — “Her name was Mary Collins and if she […]
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