CEO Picks - The best that international journalism has to offer!
S1How Early-Adopter Companies Are Thinking About Apple Vision ProThe Apple Vision Pro marks the biggest experiment yet in the field of “spatial computing,” which its boosters argue has the potential to be the next era of tech — a shift on par with the emergence of mobile computing. But what are early adopter companies really doing with Apple’s new hardware, and what do they hope to get out of these investments? The piece examines efforts from Lowe’s, e.l.f. Cosmetics, Hanifa, and the PGA Tour to understand these companies’ strategies. And while there are certainly benefits to being an early adopter, there are also barriers to entry, including expertise, competition, visibility on what is now a relatively small platform, and platform lock-in.
Continued here
|
S2Most Companies Can't Handle Cybersecurity AloneThe way to detect and neutralize determined cyber attackers is with 24/7 eyes-on-glass delivered by expert security operations professionals. These highly skilled operators have never been more critically urgent. Few organizations, however, have the right tools, people, infrastructure, and processes in-house to do this on their own. Global cybersecurity workforce shortages complicate the challenge, increasing risk and exposure to potential attacks for those without the necessary, on-demand resources. CSaaS is a security model where organizations leverage outside specialists to fulfill critical cybersecurity needs — such as around-the-clock threat monitoring. By outsourcing or augmenting IT teams to include managed cybersecurity services, organizations can more effectively mitigate attacks before they cause damage.
Continued here
|
S3Designing Your Company's Sustainability ReportClimate change, sustainability, and ESG considerations are increasingly taking center stage in corporate boardrooms across the world. When measuring and communicating corporate sustainability performance through sustainability reports or ratings, executives face a rapidly evolving and complex set of choices. As a result, companies are at risk of falling behind or choosing inappropriate reports and ratings that don’t drive sustainability performance and open the door to accusations of greenwashing. This article introduces the sustainability reporting matrix, a tool that helps executives and sustainability managers to focus on the sustainability reporting standards and ratings that are most closely aligned with their strategic requirements and the information needs of their stakeholders.
Continued here
|
S4How Managers Can Build a Culture of ExperimentationCompanies tend to allocate testing time and money to big initiatives while ignoring small ideas that, in the aggregate, can have a bigger impact with less risk. The hardest challenges in testing are internal processes, especially the need to work collaboratively to define a problem. Most managers are good at asking questions, but not as good (or, for various reasons, reluctant) at specifying what would constitute a feasible answer to those questions.
Continued here
|
S5 Make a Stronger Business Case for SustainabilityLeaders can’t escape the global imperative to reduce the contributions businesses make to environmental degradation, but deep down, many harbor doubts: Can a profit-driven organization also be sustainable? Pressure to grow revenue and control costs is constant. How can a leader feel confident in pursuing more sustainable choices and defending them to boards and shareholders sensitive to the often higher costs of greener approaches?
The dueling pressures to do business sustainably and to maximize profits leave many leaders stuck, unsure what to do. Many falsely categorize sustainability as a compliance issue, taking a wait-and-see approach and aspiring to do the minimum. But they miss new opportunities and are less prepared for the energy transition away from fossil fuels. As with any major disruption, companies that take smart steps forward can carve out an advantage and avoid being left behind.
Some CEOs may succeed at rallying stakeholders to support green initiatives based on principles alone. But the practical reality for many leaders is that they must build a business case for sustainability. We believe that focusing on the classic economic levers of the marketplace can give leaders a framework for thinking creatively about how to find a path that does right by both the business and society. We’ll explain how our framework provides three pathways to profitably and sustainably creating new value for society, customers, and companies.
Continued here
|
S6Tesla's Cybertruck Motor Upgrade Feels Oddly Like Another RecallFollowing the recent recalls involving the accelerator pedal getting jammed and the windshield wiper failing, Tesla wants certain Cybertrucks to be brought in for an upgrade to its electric motors. First reported by Electrek, Tesla reached out to early Cybertruck owners with a notice that it would swap out the electric motor that their Cybertruck originally shipped with for an improved version at their next service visit.
Tesla has been vague about the reasoning and improvements that come with this upgraded Cybertruck motor, but then again it hasn’t been forthcoming with several aspects of its electric pickup, including its half-empty battery pack and its previously advertised Boat Mode.
Continued here
|
S7
S8Nothing's CMF Phone 1 Goes Where the iPhone Wouldn't DareNothing, the British consumer electronics company, is making some of the most thoughtful phones money can buy today. From the Nothing 2, the most refreshing smartphone release of 2023, to the Ear A, headphones that are an unbeatable value, the company has shown us that the market for electronics innovations isn’t entirely cornered — and doesn’t have to break the bank. Now, Nothing is showing us how low it can go with its first-ever truly budget phone, courtesy of its subbrand, CMF.
The CMF Phone 1, as it’s been dubbed, isn’t just a pricebuster (it’s just $200), but it upends the off-the-shelf model so many of us take as a given. Here’s a phone that begs to be tinkered with, customized, and made exactly to user specs.
Continued here
| S9Remnants of Mars's Violent Past Are Hidden In this New ESA Express Orbiter ImageMars Express captured this view of the flank of an enormous volcano, shaped by millions of years of fire and ice.
Images of the Martian landscape often seem to show a dead planet, no longer teeming with life (if it ever was) and no longer animated by plate tectonics. But this one reveals what was once a landscape in constant motion — sometimes sudden and violent, sometimes slow and inexorable. The northwest flank of the giant Martian volcano Arsia Mons bears the remnants of ancient lava flows, the tracks of long-vanished glaciers, and a long, deep scar left by magma straining to escape the confines of its chamber beneath the mountain.
Continued here
| S10S11Polyvagal Theory and the Neurobiology of Connection: The Science of Rupture, Repair, and ReciprocityEvery month, I spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars keeping The Marginalian going. For seventeen years, it has remained free and ad-free and alive thanks to patronage from readers. I have no staff, no interns, not even an assistant — a thoroughly one-woman labor of love that is also my life and my livelihood. If this labor makes your own life more livable in any way, please consider aiding its sustenance with a one-time or loyal donation. Your support makes all the difference.
“A purely disembodied human emotion is a nonentity,” William James wrote in his pioneering 1884 theory of how our bodies affect our feelings — the first great gauntlet thrown at the Cartesian dualism of body versus mind. In the century and a half since, we have come to see how the body and the mind converge in the healing of trauma; we have come to see consciousness itself as a full-body phenomenon.
Beyond the brain, no portion of the body shapes our mental and emotional landscape more profoundly than the tenth cranial nerve — the longest nerve of the autonomic nervous system that unconsciously governs the inner workings of the body. Known as the vagus nerve — from the Latin for “wandering,” a root shared with vagabond and vague — it meanders from the brain to the gut, touching every organ along the way with its tendrils, controlling everything from our heart rate and digestion to our reflexes and moods.
Continued here
| S12The Humanistic Philosopher and Psychologist Erich Fromm on Love and the Meaning of RespectEvery month, I spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars keeping The Marginalian going. For seventeen years, it has remained free and ad-free and alive thanks to patronage from readers. I have no staff, no interns, not even an assistant — a thoroughly one-woman labor of love that is also my life and my livelihood. If this labor makes your own life more livable in any way, please consider aiding its sustenance with a one-time or loyal donation. Your support makes all the difference.
“To love without knowing how to love wounds the person we love,” the great Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh wrote as he charted the art of interbeing. Few things wound more deeply and syphon love more swiftly than the feeling of not being fully seen, of being exiled from your own totality by a simulacrum of love that showers adoration upon fragments deemed desirable, to the exclusion or grudging toleration of the rest of you. Any relationship worthy of the word “love” unfolds between two wholenesses and is resinous with respect — respect for the entirety of the person and everything that makes them themselves.
The humanistic philosopher and psychologist Erich Fromm (March 23, 1900–March 18, 1980) takes up the question of what respect really means and what it looks like in his 1947 book Man for Himself: An Inquiry into the Psychology of Ethics.
Continued here
| S13How the genome diversity of major crops tells the story of their evolution
Agronome, Généticienne des populations des plantes tropicales cultivées, Cirad
On March 27, 2024, a study published in the scientific journal Nature announced that the sugarcane genome had at last been cracked. This was a remarkable achievement because of the complexity of the sugarcane’s genome. That of rice, the first crop genome to be sequenced, more than 20 years ago, was “simple”: 12 chromosomes, two identical copies of each, for a total of 400 million base pairs (Mb) (nitrogen base pairs located on two complementary DNA strands).
Continued here
| S14Extreme weather in South Africa is disrupting tourism - research tracks the impact on coastal areasThe increase in carbon emissions has caused a rise in global temperature, a key driver of climate change. In the past two years, and 2024 in particular, temperatures have reached record highs. The number and severity of extreme weather events and associated damage and losses from these have increased worldwide.
Human-induced climate change and climate variability have played a part in the increase in these extreme weather events. In southern Africa and South Africa, the coastal areas have borne the brunt of extreme weather events.
Continued here
| S15Iran's new reformist president offers hope to the west and cover for the conservative establishmentGood news for democracy in Iran – words which in recent times, particularly in western news reports, are rarely seen in the same sentence. But the election of Masoud Pezeshkian as president of Iran must be seen as a positive development.
Pezeshkian is a known democrat with a track record as the health minister in the government of the reformist Mohammad Khatami between 2001 and 2005. More recently he strongly criticised the brutal crackdown on mass popular demonstrations in 2018 and 2022.
Continued here
| S16Kamala Harris: the top choice to replace Biden as Democratic nominee should he step asideThe US vice president, Kamala Harris, rushed to the defence of Joe Biden after his calamitous debate performance against Donald Trump in late June. In an interview with CNN, she said: “There are three things that were true yesterday before the debate that are still true today … First, the stakes of this race could not be higher. Second, the contrast in this election could not be more stark. And third, we believe in our president Joe Biden, and we believe in what he stands for.”
But one in three Democrats now believe Biden should withdraw from the presidential race. And, in spite of her declaration of support, Harris is emerging as the frontrunner to replace the 81-year-old should he step aside.
Continued here
| S17Euros 2024: whoever wins the football, the Turkish kebab takes the fast-food crownIn a recent Amazon poll among its employees in European countries to mark the European football championships, the kebab appears as their favourite food, with the English beans on toast coming a distant second.
More than half of the 75,000 respondents said they partake at least once a week. And while even kebab aficionados will admit it’s hardly haute cuisine, its fan base cuts across all classes. It was reported, for instance, that one of the first things the global superstar Taylor Swift did when touching down in London to perform was to place an order with her favourite kebab shop.
Continued here
| S18Disease has killed most of the UK's elm trees since the 1960s - but there are signs they may be making a comebackElm trees were once stalwarts of the UK countryside that towered out of hedgerows, lined fields and woodlands. Glance at the landscape paintings of John Constable for a vague idea of what has been lost. Elm timber made ships, chairs and even water pipes until the 19th century.
These trees, and the world they held up, came crashing down when Dutch elm disease caused what is arguably the worst change to the UK’s countryside in living memory. The fungal disease carried by the elm bark beetle arrived on UK shores early in the 20th century and killed some elms but left the majority standing. Elm trees were not out of the woods though – a more virulent strain arrived in the 1960s and destroyed most of the UK’s 30 million elms.
Continued here
| S19Millions benefited from mortgages fixed at low prices - now many are struggling with much higher monthly paymentsThe impact of higher mortgage costs is now biting hard. Three million UK households face the prospect of having to renew their mortgage within the next two years as their fixed-rate periods come to an end. While nearly two-thirds of all borrowers have already remortgaged at more expensive rates, a large number are still waiting to do the same.
The Bank of England’s recent financial stability report highlighted how vulnerable household budgets are to increased mortgage costs. Many are still on fixed rates below 3% for mortgages they borrowed before the interest rates started to rise in December 2021. According to the bank, around 400,000 of these households will experience very large increases in their monthly payments, of 50% or more.
Continued here
| S20'Whatchamacallit', 'gizmo' and 'thingamajig': what we say when we can't find the right word - and whyOver 50,000 years ago, humans started speaking and we’ve not shut up since. Sometimes, though, we struggle to remember the name of an object, a place, or a person we want to talk about. The technical term for this phenomenon is “lethologica”.
While severe word-finding difficulties can be due to serious neurological issues, such as a stroke or dementia, drawing the occasional, temporary blank is very common. Unsurprisingly, stress doesn’t help, and it gets worse as we age.
Continued here
| S21Labour is divided over Israel and Palestine - as prime minister, Keir Starmer has a difficult line to treadWhen it comes to Israel and Palestine, the Labour party has a complex historical legacy. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is acutely aware of the lessons of the past, particularly from when Jeremy Corbyn was Labour leader, about the ability of this conflict to pitch the party into a state of antagonistic self-destruction.
Since 2020, Labour’s consistent line has been that it has fundamentally changed when it comes to antisemitism: British Jews should no longer be afraid to see it as a credible party of government. Polls show that a majority of Jewish voters now support Labour, which suggests this messaging has largely worked.
Continued here
| S22IQ tests: can you improve your score by practising?Most adults never have to take an IQ test. But tests for assessing students’ cognitive abilities, such as the cognitive ability test (Cat), are used in schools around the world. These tests are very similar to IQ tests. Taking them may be a pain for kids. Possibly, it’s an even bigger pain for parents.
Just for a moment, put yourself in the shoes of a parent whose child’s overall Cat score turns out to be below average. A flock of unpleasant questions may pop into your mind. Does that mean they won’t get into a top university? And what about their career?
Continued here
| S23S24How The Bear sets up stereotypes of tough male and emotional female chefs -The Michelin star chef Marco Pierre White said in 2019: “The real positive with men [in professional kitchens is] they are not as emotional, and they don’t take things personally.” While he credited women with having a better sense of smell, and for being consistent and punctual, he said: “Men can absorb pressure better in busy moments.”
When it comes to the domain of top flight kitchens, we see this real world issue reflected in the hit series The Bear. Now in its third season, the show follows an unconventional crew of cooks at a Chicago sandwich shop as it transforms under the vision of Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White).
Continued here
| S25We need to consider alternatives to dark matter that better explain cosmological observationsDoing away with dark matter and dark energy resolves the “impossible early galaxy problem,” that arises when trying to account for galaxies that do not adhere to expectations regarding to size and age. Finding an alternative to dark matter and energy that complies with existing cosmological observations, including galaxy distribution, is possible.
Read more:
How old is the universe exactly? A new theory suggests that it's been around for twice as long as believed
Continued here
| S26S27S28S29S30S31When it comes to sustainability reporting, it depends on how serious companies are about making changeCompanies are facing pressure to become more open about how they do business. With income inequality, governance failures and the mismanagement of natural resource capital threatening both society and the environment, there are growing calls for more corporate disclosure and accountability.
Many firms now report how they are doing along economic, environmental and social lines in what is called a sustainability report. These reports give stakeholders, such as investors, customers and regulators, a comprehensive view of how businesses create value over time.
Continued here
| S32Trauma-sensitive climate change education can develop truthful hopeSummer is a time for educators and students to recharge. For educators, this opportunity to reflect and regroup often includes planning for how to support students in the next school year. It is becoming increasingly important that this support involves helping students navigate the impacts of the climate crisis.
Read more:
Advice for teachers on how to use the summer to protect their hearts from burnout
Continued here
| S33S34S35A wildlife park has scrapped koala cuddles. Is it time for a blanket ban?A popular wildlife park in Brisbane has announced it will no longer offer “koala holds”, prompting questions about whether other captive animal facilities should follow.
Koala handling has long been criticised by animal welfare advocates. They say koalas are naturally solitary, nocturnal animals that become stressed when placed in close proximity to humans – so hugging them is “completely unacceptable”.
Continued here
| S36S37French elections: 'Power will shift from the presidential palace to the National Assembly and the Senate'The second round of French parliamentary elections on 7 July 2024 was a tense affair. Against all expectations, the left/progressive New Popular Front (Nouveau Front Populaire, NFP) won with 182 seats, followed by Macron’s party with 168 seats, and in third place, the far-right National Rally (Rassemblement National, RN) with 143 seats. Julien Robin, a doctoral student in political science specialising in French parliamentary life, analyses the results.
The Conversation France: What do the results of the second round of the legislative elections tell us?
Continued here
| S385G doesn't affect your health - here are 5 points to put your mind at ease
Profesor de Radiología y Medicina Física en la Facultad de Medicina de Albacete. Coordinador de la Unidad de Cultura Científica y de la Innovación (UCLMdivulga), Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha
Right now, you are reading these lines on the screen of a mobile phone, tablet, or computer. For decades now, our access to huge amounts of information and instant communication has depended on antennas and transmitters that bathe our surroundings in radiation – specifically, in non-ionising electromagnetic radiation.
Continued here
| S39Extreme heat waves broiling the planet in 2024 aren't normal: How climate change is heating up weather around the worldLess than a month into summer 2024, the vast majority of the U.S. population has already experienced an extreme heat wave. Millions of people were under heat warnings across the western U.S. in early July or sweating through humid heat in the East.
Death Valley hit a dangerous 129 degrees Fahrenheit (53.9 C) on July 7, a day after a motorcyclist died from heat exposure there. Las Vegas broke its all-time heat record at 120 F (48.9 C). In California, a week of over 100-degree heat in large parts of the state dried out the landscape, fueling wildfires.
Continued here
| S40French voters united to block far right again - but 'cordon sanitaire' strategy is increasingly rare in EuropeIn European politics, one specific strategy for dealing with a political party that appears a danger to the wider democratic system is to look to isolate it to make sure it does not advance politically. This process is known as “cordon sanitaire”. It’s a strategy that has been applied at local levels, at national levels and across borders within the European parliament.
In general, it has been applied to right-wing parties that appear to threaten the fabric of liberal democracy. In recent years, the sheer number of populist parties emerging from the right has arguably made such a process redundant.
Continued here
| S41Is it still a good idea to take aspirin to prevent heart disease? Here's what the evidence saysYou might have heard that taking a daily low-dose aspirin can reduce your risk of developing heart disease. But, unless you have been told to take aspirin by your doctor, recent news should make you think again, because, for many, the risks outweigh the benefits.
According to a new study, older adults in the US continue to take aspirin despite growing evidence questioning its benefits for those without a history of cardiovascular disease.
Continued here
| S42The five scholars who won two Nobel Prizes - and what sets them apartThere is often much debate about who is the greatest among sportsmen and women, movie stars, leaders or artists. But some scholars have truly made a staggering difference to the world.
Winning a Nobel prize is a rare, extraordinary achievement, but five remarkable people have done it twice. Who are they? What sets them apart? And who is the greatest?
Continued here
| S43Euro 2024: women need safer fan spaces at big football tournaments to stamp out hostility and abuseWith millions of people attending matches and enjoying Euro 2024 in Germany’s fan zones, the issue of supporter safety is paramount. Yet how secure women feel at big tournaments, and what can be done to create safer spaces for female fans, receives less focus. Not feeling safe is a particular concern for women at high-profile men’s tournaments, including the Euros.
Crowd disturbances and violence at men’s international matches have always received widespread media coverage. In the aftermath of the Euro 2020 final against Italy, English football faced questions around the mob mentality on display, yet this ignored the problem of misogyny that included sexist chanting, sexual harassment and even sexual assault.
Continued here
| S44Labour has a chance to finally insulate Britain - but there's a big hole in its plansThe UK’s new Labour government has made clear that improving housing and tackling climate change are among its top priorities, with announcements on housebuilding targets and onshore wind turbines being made within its first few days in office.
But we’ve yet to hear any more substantial detail about a policy that would make a major contribution towards both these goals: Labour’s warm homes plan to improve housing insulation and cut domestic emissions to net zero.
Continued here
| S45Hajj in extraordinary heat: what a scholar of Islam saw in MeccaAt least 1,300 people died because of scorching heat during the Hajj pilgrimage in June 2024. It’s not the first time that such a tragic incident hit the pilgrimage. More than a thousand were killed in a heat wave in 1985, and deaths due to stampedes and other crowd-related disasters have been reported in previous years.
But despite the risks, millions of Muslims perform the pilgrimage; this year alone, some 1.8 million participated in it.
Continued here
| S46Unregulated online political ads pose a threat to democracy
Adjunct Instructor of Communications and Marketing, USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism
Think back to the last time you scrolled through your social media feed and encountered a political ad that perfectly aligned with your views – or perhaps one that outraged you. Could you tell if it was from a legitimate campaign, a shadowy political action committee or even a foreign entity? Could you discern who paid for the ad? Chances are you couldn’t.
Continued here
| S47When scientific citations go rogue: Uncovering 'sneaked references'But what happens when this citation system is manipulated? A recent Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology article by our team of academic sleuths – which includes information scientists, a computer scientist and a mathematician – has revealed an insidious method to artificially inflate citation counts through metadata manipulations: sneaked references.
People are becoming more aware of scientific publications and how they work, including their potential flaws. Just last year more than 10,000 scientific articles were retracted. The issues around citation gaming and the harm it causes the scientific community, including damaging its credibility, are well documented.
Continued here
| S48Dig safely when building sandcastles and tunnels this summer - collapsing sand holes can cause suffocation and even deathWhile millions of Americans vacation on beaches every year to seek out sun, sand and the sea, many might not realize how dangerous digging holes in the sand can be. In February 2024, a 7-year-old girl died after an approximately 5-foot (1.5-meter) hole she and her brother dug in the sand collapsed in on her, burying her alive.
Sand isn’t actually a type of material. It’s a category of material size, ranging from 0.0025 to 0.08 inches (0.06 to 2 millimeters) in diameter. The type of sand is determined by the materials making it up. Quartz sand, made up of silicon dioxide, is the most common sand found on beaches, except at tropical coasts where coral sand beaches, made up of calcium carbonate, are found.
Continued here
| S49By revealing their mental health struggles, pro athletes are scoring with fansOn June 5, 2024, the Boston Red Sox placed relief pitcher Chris Martin on the 15-day injured list. It wasn’t for a sore shoulder, a tight elbow or a tweaked groin.
Historically, the MLB’s injured list was used for players with physical injuries. If players missed time due to mental health ailments, the explanation given to the media and public was often intentionally vague: “personal reasons.”
Continued here
| S50
TradeBriefs Publications are read by over 10,00,000 Industry Executives
About Us | Advertise Privacy Policy Unsubscribe (one-click)
You are receiving this mail because of your subscription with TradeBriefs.
Our mailing address is GF 25/39, West Patel Nagar, New Delhi 110008, India
|