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Inside Googles 7-Year Mission to Give AI a Robot Body - WIRED It was early January 2016, and I had just joined Google X, Alphabet's secret innovation lab. My job: help figure out what to do with the employees and technology left over from nine robot companies that Google had acquired. People were confused. Andy "the father of Android" Rubin, who had previously been in charge, had suddenly left. Larry Page and Sergey Brin kept trying to offer guidance and direction during occasional flybys in their "spare time." Astro Teller, the head of Google X, had agreed a few months earlier to bring all the robot people into the lab, affectionately referred to as the moonshot factory.
I signed up because Astro had convinced me that Google Xâor simply X, as we would come to call itâwould be different from other corporate innovation labs. The founders were committed to thinking exceptionally big, and they had the so-called "patient capital" to make things happen. After a career of starting and selling several tech companies, this felt right to me. X seemed like the kind of thing that Google ought to be doing. I knew from firsthand experience how hard it was to build a company that, in Steve Jobs' famous words, could put a dent in the universe, and I believed that Google was the right place to make certain big bets. AI-powered robots, the ones that will live and work alongside us one day, was one such audacious bet.
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WorkWorkA Better Way to Measure Social Impact - Harvard Business Review All impact investors report the financial returns from their funds and investments, and many provide metrics on intended social outcomes, such as numbers of individuals served, or quality jobs created. But investors do not supply metrics about their impacts on individuals and families lives, and until they do, social impact reporting is unlikely to approach the level of robustness associated with financial and environmental reporting. The authors of this article describe how Bayers Crop Science division has developed reliable stakeholder reported measures of the social impact of its inclusive growth projects based on an approach first pioneered in the healthcare sector.
WorkAI and globalisation are shaking up software developers world - The Economist Two big shifts are under way in the world of software development. Since the launch of Chatgpt in 2022, bosses have been falling over themselves to try to find ways to use generative artificial intelligence (AI) productively. Most efforts have so far yielded little, but one exception is software programming. Surveys suggest that developers around the world find generative ai so useful that already about two-fifths of them use it. WorkAncient Egyptians Had Poor Posture at Work, Too - Discover Magazine Life as a scribe in Ancient Egypt took its toll on the body. Researchers examining the bones of these ancient writers found them riddled with arthritis and other work-related wear and tear, offering fascinating insights into their lives. They detailed their findings in a study published in the journal Scientific Reports.
WorkWorkHezbollahs role in the Israel-Hamas war, explainedHezbollah, an Iranian-backed Islamist militant organization and Lebanese political party, has been in conflict with Israel since its founding decades ago. Now the death of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in an Israeli airstrike on Saturday, threatens to take that conflict to a new and even more destructive level.
WorkWorkAt Home With the Internets TMI QueenThe vibe in the West Hollywood mansion of Tana Mongeau, the influencer wild child, is surprisingly wholesome. Its an early-September afternoon, and the sun streams through big windows into her Nancy Meyersesque kitchen, where she perches on a stool at a long marble countertop. In the same open-concept room, her assistant, Paige Camerlin, is quietly typing on her laptop on one end of a leather sectional; on the other, Mongeaus boyfriend, Makoa, is curled up in a hoodie reading a book. Its about cacao farmers in the early 1900s, he tells me, and the industrialism of how that all took place. Mongeau looks amused. That shows the difference between the two of us, she says with the raspy voice of someone who stays in the club past last call. I will be sitting there reading, like, a Pamela Anderson autobiography. Despite the domestic tableau, Mongeau is still more troublemaker than tradwife: Her nipples show through a white tank top, her hair is dyed platinum blonde, and she constantly pulls from a pale-pink nicotine vape.
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WorkWhat to make of the Feds surprisingly aggressive rate cut - WSJ The Fed’s decision on Sept. 18 to begin its easing cycle with a large 50-basis-point rate cut was a bit of a dovish surprise to many people—including me. But only a bit. In the days leading up to the meeting, outside opinion was close to evenly divided between a traditional 25-basis-point opener and an aggressive 50. The choice looked close enough to a coin flip that neither outcome would have been a big surprise to Fed watchers. I favored 50 basis points but guessed that the more cautious committee would opt for 25. WorkThe stock market isnt all about AI anymore - WSJ Gone is the first half of 2024, when investors’ passion for artificial intelligence drove the market skyward even as stubbornly high inflation dashed hopes that the Federal Reserve would begin cutting interest rates.
WorkDefense-tech startups need a new supplier: Anyone but China - WSJ China is the dominant supplier of batteries, motors, sensors, rare-earth materials and other key components needed by U.S. defense companies. The industry’s outsize reliance on China for materials to build everything from drones to ships and missiles has become an untenable reality in Washington. WorkRare Diagnoses Change Peoples Perception of Medical Risk - Scientific American As a graphics editor at Scientific American, I spend a lot of time thinking about and visualizing dataincluding data on medical risks. So when I got pregnant in 2018, I was prepared for things to be complicated. Some of the most common issues loomed in my mind: for example, as many as one in five known pregnancies ends in miscarriage, and an estimated 13 percent of expectant people develop potentially dangerous blood pressure disorders. When no such problems arose in my pregnancy, I exhaled and concluded that I was lucky. I didnt consider the sorts of diagnoses or events that affected less than, say, 1 percent of pregnancies. Those conditions, I reasoned, were rare. WorkAmericans are more reliant than ever on government aid - WSJ That support is especially critical in economically stressed communities throughout the U.S., many of which lean Republican and are concentrated in swing states crucial in deciding the presidential election. Neither party has much incentive to dial back the spending. WorkAn Ohio Businessman Faces Death Threats for Praising His Haitian WorkersAmong them is Wilford Renvil, who has operated a mechanical press since 2021. He fled Haiti, where he had a white-collar job at a telecommunications company, after bandits took control of his town and went on killing sprees. His attendance record at McGregor is perfect, Mr. Renvil said, and he has befriended his American co-workers. WorkDockworkers Strike Could Begin Tuesday, With Talks at an ImpasseThe I.L.A., which has 47,000 members, has not held a strike at all the East and Gulf Coast ports since 1977. The union and the United States Maritime Alliance, the employers’ negotiating group, are at loggerheads over wages and benefits. The union is also resisting the use of automated machinery at the ports. WorkFacing a Big Test, Iran's 'Axis of Resistance' FlailsIran cobbled together the axis out of armed groups that shared antipathy toward Israel and the United States but until then had been fighting more local battles. The United States classifies most of them as terrorist organizations. WorkA Transformative Leader Steps Down in Mexico. What Will His Legacy Be?On Tuesday, Mr. López Obrador will step down and hand the mantle to his longtime protégée, Claudia Sheinbaum, a former mayor of Mexico City. The landslide win in June by Ms. Sheinbaum — Mexico’s first female president — was seen by many as a clear vote of confidence in Mr. López Obrador and Morena, the party he founded in 2014. June’s elections also gave Morena large legislative majorities unseen in Mexico since the transition to democracy in 2000. WorkOpinion | An Open Letter to Jimmy Carter, on His 100th BirthdayYou are a child of the Jim Crow South who grew up on a farm at a time when Black sharecroppers were hardly more than slaves. But even raised in that world, you understood the injustice of it. “The time for racial discrimination is over,” you said at your gubernatorial inauguration in 1971. Your audience audibly gasped, but for the rest of your political career, you worked to even the playing field for Black Americans. WorkSenior South Korean Police Officer Sentenced to 3 Years Over Crowd CrushOn the evening of Oct. 29, 2022, thousands of young people packed into Itaewon, a popular neighborhood for nightlife in Yongsan, to enjoy the first post-pandemic, restriction-free Halloween weekend in Seoul. Hundreds jammed into a narrow and sloping alleyway from both ends, creating a deadly squeeze in the middle. WorkWorkWorkWorkWorkLost Lives and an Epic Crisis in North CarolinaMore than 35 storm-related deaths were reported in the state as of Sunday, part of Helene’s trail of destruction that began Thursday on Florida’s Gulf Coast and tore through the Southeast, claiming more than 90 lives. Gov. Roy Cooper called the crisis an “unprecedented tragedy.” WorkWorkTrump's Volunteers: 'Beautiful Ladies' From a Secretive Evangelical ChurchAll are members of an evangelical charismatic Christian church in the tiny town of Spindale (population 4,238) in western North Carolina. The church, Word of Faith Fellowship, has for decades drawn controversy over its cultish insularity and its treatment of children and adults who have been judged by church leaders to be sinners. WorkHarris Tries to Goad Trump Into Another DebateThe Harris campaign is spending more on television and digital advertising in those three states than in Arizona and Nevada, and she has traveled more extensively there. This week, she will again campaign in all three blue wall states. WorkAfter Harris Calls for a Crackdown on Fentanyl, Trump Twists Her PositionA question asking if Ms. Harris supported the decriminalization at the federal level of all drug possession for personal use appeared to be checked “yes.” Ms. Harris wrote that it was “long past time that we changed our outdated and discriminatory criminalization of marijuana” and said that she favored treating drug addiction as a public health issue, focusing on rehabilitation instead of incarceration. WorkWorkWorkThe 15 majors that college students are flocking toApplied mathematics is the fifteenth most popular college major. Graduates with a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics science have a median annual salary of $100,000. The unemployment rate for those who work in this field is 3% and about 52.8% of graduates hold an advanced degree. WorkWorkUK to close last coal power station after 142 yearsKayte O'Neill, the chief operating officer at the Energy System Operator - the body overseeing the UK's electricity system - said: "There is a whole load of innovation required to help us ensure the stability of the grid. Keeping the lights on in a secure way." WorkUK economy grew less than thought in springLiz McKeown, director of economic statistics for the ONS, said: "Our latest data show that household savings continue to increase and are now at their highest rate since the Covid-19 lockdowns." WorkWorkWorkMcDonald's and supermarkets failed to spot slaveryIt said it was “committed to tackling all forms of modern slavery” and would “pursue gangs and employers with every lever at our disposal while ensuring that victims are provided with the support they need”. WorkMinimum price of alcohol in Scotland rises by 30%Alison Douglas, chief executive of AFS, said her charity was calling for an alcohol harm prevention levy on alcohol retailers, which she said the Fraser of Allander Institute estimated could raise as much as £57m a year to invest in alcohol treatment services. WorkWorkU.S. Ramps Up Hunt for Uranium to End Reliance on RussiaThose twin pressures have helped lift uranium prices to their highest levels in more than 15 years, according to the consulting firm TradeTech, helping to resuscitate mining regions that entered a steep decline toward the end of the Cold War. WorkCNN Wades Back Into the Documentary BusinessBeginning this week, CNN Films returns with the first of three movies it has acquired in partnership with other players. The company is also reviving the arm that produces documentary series. WorkVintage Shopping Is Booming. Banana Republic and Others Get In on the Action.A varied industry, secondhand clothing stores consist of national chains, small businesses and nonprofits across a range of price points and styles. And while many shoppers like to get their retail therapy fix online on sites like the RealReal and Etsy’s Depop, people looking for the best deals in used goods or a rare vintage item often prefer to see, feel or try on the pieces in person. That makes brick-and-mortar stores essential to the resale business model, vendors and industry experts say. WorkHere's What to Know About the Looming Port StrikeCargo that could be affected by the strike includes everyday consumer goods, like bananas, many of which come through a port in Delaware. Just over half of imported apparel, footwear and accessories also come through East Coast ports. Manufacturing parts and cars move through these ports, too. WorkWorkU.S. Approves Billions in Aid to Restart Michigan Nuclear PlantDavid Turk, the deputy secretary of energy, said he expected U.S. electricity demand would grow by 15 percent over the next few years, driven by an increase in electric vehicles, a boom in battery and solar factories as well as a surge of new data centers for artificial intelligence. That meant the nation needs new low-carbon sources of power that could run 24/7 and complement wind and solar plants. 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