How Chat GPT Can Rescue You from Writer's Block

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How Chat GPT Can Rescue You from Writer's Block   It can brainstorm, draft, and proof -- but not without human effort. Continued here

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Surviving in the Ephemeral Pools of Life   Carpets of gold, burrowing toads and fairy shrimp all depend on vernal pools—habitats that, most of the time, do not exist.Christopher Intagliata: This is Scientific American’s Science, Quickly. I’m Christopher Intagliata. Continued here

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Google Is Rolling Out Password-Killing Tech to All Accounts   Google is announcing a major effort to let its personal account holders log in with the password replacement known as “passkeys.” The feature launches today for the company's billions of accounts, and users will be able to proactively seek it out and turn it on. Google says it plans to promote passkeys in the coming months and start nudging account holders to convert their traditional username and password login to a passkey.Password-based authentication has been standard across the internet (and computing in general) for decades, but the system has serious security issues, namely that attackers can steal your password or trick you into giving it to them in phishing attacks. The passkey scheme is specifically designed to address phishing attacks by relying on a different model that uses cryptographic keys stored on your devices for account authentication.  Continued here

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What New Grads Need to Know About Working Remotely   WFH is here to stay, at least in some capacity, for 45% of the workforce. Even so, many workplaces are still struggling to define their expectations when it comes to flexibility around where and when people work. It’s likely going to be a long ride before we feel a sense of stability. For people just entering the workforce, here are three tips to help you prepare for the future and thrive in your new remote or hybrid role. Continued here

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'Godfather of AI' Quits Google. Chief Scientist's Response is a Lesson for Leaders   The future of leadership is balancing creative tensions. Continued here

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Twitter Rival Bluesky Has a Nudes Problem   As people have flocked to Bluesky in recent weeks, the platform has been hit with a problem as old as the internet: nudity. Among those who recently joined the decentralized social network established by Twitter cofounder and former CEO Jack Dorsey are large contingents of the tech, trans, and sex worker communities who have brought their own social norms to the chaotically exciting social platform.Caught up in that excitement—particularly around one uncontrollable section of Bluesky called the hellthread, where a coding error meant that anyone who had participated in the thread was bombarded with notifications—many chose to share nude images of themselves. Continued here

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Apple's reluctant shift toward India   In mid-April, Apple CEO Tim Cook made his second official India visit. Cook checked all the boxes for the quintessential U.S.-executive-in-India tour: He rubbed shoulders with Bollywood actors, watched a cricket match, met with his company’s local staff, and topped it off with a photo-op with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.While the visit closely resembled Cook’s previous trip in 2016, the purpose this time around was to inaugurate Apple’s first two Indian stores — one in Delhi and the other in Mumbai. “India is at a tipping point and it feels great to be here. You can feel the vibrancy, dynamism. The feeling that anything here is possible,” Cook told a local news outlet. Until now, Apple had sold its products in India through resellers, retail chains, and online stores. Continued here

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With its U.S. future in doubt, TikTok Shop is thriving in Indonesia   Over the holy month of Ramadan, Indonesian TikTok transforms into a shopping paradise. The video app lights up with long-haul livestreams, done in shifts by presenters shaking glittery kaftans and colorful headscarves before the camera. Live chats buzz with questions, and the tempo rises after sundown when Muslims break their fast.Permata Hidayat, the 29-year-old founder of kaftan store Caftanesia, is delighted. Over March and April, the store has livestreamed on TikTok Shop, the app’s virtual marketplace, for 18 hours a day, with three six-hour sessions staggered across morning, afternoon, and evening. Kaftans to wear during Eid are in hot demand on TikTok right now; Hidayat’s usual daily sales have leaped fivefold to around 1,500 pieces, he told Rest of World.  Continued here

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Twitter Really Is Worse Than Ever   A year ago, Elon Musk announced that he wanted to buy Twitter to clear it of bots and turn “the de facto public town square” into a place for unfettered free speech. Social media experts worried that would mean the platform would stop moderating what users post, and warned that the consequence of Musk’s stated absolutism would be that the platform would be overrun with violent and hateful content. It turns out they were right. After he took over the platform, Musk insisted that “Twitter’s strong commitment to content moderation remains absolutely unchanged.” But around the same time, Twitter fired most of its trust and safety staff, the team responsible for keeping content that violates the company’s policies off the platform.  Continued here

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Bizarre Blue 'Jellyfish' Washing Up on California Beaches Are a Sign of Spring   ’Tis the season for hordes of blue jellyfishlike creatures to wash up on California beachesAlong the U.S. Pacific coast, droves of alien creatures about the size of a doughnut are washing up on beaches and leaving a mat of briefly blue debris that soon fades to a crackly white—hiding just how bizarre these animals are. Continued here

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This Might Be the World's Oldest Tree. And It Could Die of Thirst   Lañilawal, a Patagonian cypress that may be one of the oldest trees on Earth, needs greater protection if scientists are to understand its secrets of survival, an environmental scientist saysA Patagonian cypress known as Lañilawal or Alerce Milenario may be the oldest tree on Earth. One researcher estimates it sprouted more than 5,000 years ago, well before the Great Pyramid of Giza was even built. Continued here

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The childhood diseases making a post-lockdown comeback   As child after child gasping for air was admitted to the hospital, Rabia Agha gritted her teeth. In her role as director of the paediatric infectious diseases division at Maimonides Children's Hospital in New York, she had seen this before. An outbreak of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) – a winter virus that can feel like a common cold in adults, but which can be dangerous for some young children.There was a wave last autumn – and an unexpected one in spring this year. Now, in the early autumn months of 2022, it was back again. Continued here

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The Biggest--But Least Realized--Mistake People Make on PowerPoint Slides   Don't squander the most valuable real state on your slide. Continued here

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How Midsize Companies Can Keep Up with AI   Right now, many businesses are reacting to generative AI in a vacuum. But individual innovations shouldn’t be approached with a narrow, short-term focus, as midsize companies that chase each new trend will find themselves over-committed and under-prepared when that trend wears off. Instead, zoom out. How does this current innovation build on the technology already in place, and what can we expect it to build toward in the future? A wider, long-term view will bring much-needed perspective at a time when many are being swept up in the attention AI is getting. Continued here

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"We must regulate AI," FTC Chair Khan says   On Wednesday, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan pledged to use existing laws to regulate AI in a New York Times op-ed, "We Must Regulate A.I. Here's How." In the piece, she warns of AI risks such as market dominance by large tech firms, collusion, and the potential for increased fraud and privacy violations. Continued here

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Green Innovation Has a Glamour Problem   Los Angeles, a city notorious for endless traffic jams, is clearing some space overhead. With a vision to make electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft a reality, companies are vying for the chance to fulfill long-held science fiction dreams. Will swapping tailpipes for propellers really revolutionize urban mobility while decarbonizing the transportation sector, currently the largest single source of US greenhouse gas emissions? That seems like the real fantasy.As a systems transition designer, I spend a lot of time considering the various post-carbon futures we could move toward, and how best to reach a more equitable one. Climate mitigation measures are not simply a means to an end; the means are actively shaping the end. All too often, a so-called solution may alleviate the discomforts of a broken system while entrenching its underlying conditions. Why do we invest in flashy, resource-intensive proposals when there are more elegant, straightforward interventions right in front of us? Continued here

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We Need to Talk More About Our Inner Imposters   In our hyper-connected world, we’re constantly bombarded by the success stories of others online. In competitive work and school environments, we’re pushed to stand out as leaders. It can be tempting to perform confidence just to fit in. Those of us who seem uncertain about our paths or potentials often end up feeling like imposters among our highly capable peers. The problem is this performance is not sustainable. Ultimately, it ends in burnout and disappointment. How do we overcome these pressures? Continued here

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A 3-Step Guide to Using ChatGPT for Brainstorming   Do new A.I. chatbots hallucinate crazy ideas and say bizarre things? Absolutely, which is why they're such great brainstorming partners. Continued here

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McKinsey's Three Horizons Model Defined Innovation for Years. Here's Why It No Longer Applies.   In the 20th century McKinsey created a model called the Three Horizons to explain how businesses must invest in current products, incremental innovations, and breakthrough innovations. The framework relied on time as a guiding factor; it assumes that truly breakthrough innovations will take years to develop. Technology has made that assumption incorrect: Today innovations like Uber and Airbnb can be rolled out extremely quickly. Because established companies tend to move slowly and must invest resources in existing products, this means that unlike in the 20th century, attacking disruptors now have the advantage. Continued here

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Research: The Pros and Cons of Soliciting Customer Reviews   Many companies chase customers for online reviews by sending them solicitation emails. These emails aren’t always a good idea, according to new research. Solicitation will push your ratings from the extremes to the average. This could be good or bad. Email prompts disproportionally triggers moderate reviews as the passionate reviewers are more likely to leave reviews of their own accord. Thus, for those products with generally-high average ratings, reminders will lower the average rating. In contrast, products with generally-low average ratings might benefit from reminders. The exception is platform companies such as Amazon or Booking.com–they should always send out reminders as all that matters to them is volume. Also, the research found that companies that do solicit reviews don’t need to offer financial rewards–a reminder email is equally effective. Continued here

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Do You Have a Life Outside of Work?   In studying professionals for two decades, the author has found a predictable pattern where well-adjusted and purposeful people with diverse interests go off track. They become unidimensional, focusing solely on work success as providing the money, status, and meaning they think they’ll achieve through it. Often this is done with the best intentions by people who identify themselves as choosing this path in order to be providers to their families. Often it goes wrong, and they end up unhealthy, possibly divorced, and with limited friends or activities to help them get out of the trap. Continued here

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How Do I Politely End Conversations at Networking Events?   And three other tricky workplace dilemmas. Continued here

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Can someone please make an iPhone-theft thriller already?   Did you read about the burglary at an Apple store in Seattle last month? In a theft that had all the markings of a Money Heist-like thriller, burglars reportedly cut a hole in the bathroom wall of an adjoining coffee supplies shop to enter the Apple store. They stole iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches worth $500,000, reports said.This news came just a few days after the Delhi police arrested five people involved in buying and reselling stolen iPhones in India’s capital. The police said the accused had a nexus with snatchers who would sell them the stolen iPhones. Continued here

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Astronomers Just Saw a Star Eat a Planet for the First Time   A dying star swallowing a giant planet hints at the fate awaiting our solar system some 5 billion years from nowAstronomers may have for the first time witnessed a sun-like star devouring a planet, shedding light on the fate that will befall Earth in about four billion years when our dying sun swells to engulf our world, a new study finds. Continued here

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How to Confront a Bully at Work   Early career professionals are more prone to bullying than their senior colleagues. Research shows that power imbalances between experienced and newer workers can create an authority gap that has the potential to generate abusive and intimidating behaviors from those who have higher status. If you’re a young professional dealing with bullying at work, how do you navigate the situation and guard yourself? Continued here