Archive

Chris Achard

In early October, Nat Friedman, the CEO of GitHub, the Microsoft-owned software development platform, sent an email to employees announcing that it would renew…

In 2018 $273bn was spent on digital ads globally. We delve into the world of clicks, banners and keywords to find out if any of it is real. What do we really know about the effectiveness of digital advertising?

Leaders are often faced with ethical conundrums. So how can they determine when they’re inching toward dangerous territory? There are three main psychological dynamics that lead to crossing moral lines. First, there’s omnipotence: when someone feels so aggrandized and entitled that they believe the rules of decent behavior don’t apply to them. Second, consider cultural numbness: when others play along and gradually begin to accept and embody deviant norms. Finally, when people don’t speak up because they are thinking of more immediate rewards, we see justified neglect. There are several strategies leaders can use to counter these dynamics, including relying on a group of trusted peers to keep you in check, keeping a list of things you will never do for profit, and looking out for ways you explain away borderline actions.

Researchers in Japan and at the University of Michigan said they have found a way to take over the voice-controlled digital assistants.

Architects are taking issue with risk-averse playparks full of sluggish roundabouts and tiny climbing frames. But are playgrounds in the middle of roads really the answer?

The synchronized brain waves of non-REM sleep may play a key role in preventing toxins from accumulating in a person's brain.

As it turns out, not squeezing employees dry like a sponge is maybe a good thing.

Tor browser, browser plugins TrackMeNot and AdNauseam, which explore obfuscation techniques by issuing many fake search requests and loading and clicking every ad, respectively. he browser extension Go Rando, which randomly chooses your emotional “reactions” on Facebook, interfering with their emotional profiling and analysis. Playful experiments like Adam Harvey’s “HyperFace” project, finding patterns on textiles that fool facial recognition systems – not by hiding your face, but by creating the illusion of many faces.

Andrew Marantz explains why Mark Zuckerberg’s claims that Facebook is a neutral platform on which free speech should be protected ignores the role profit plays for the company.

How easy is it to exploit Airbnb? While searching for my grifter, I found out.

One of the most charming features of game theory is the almost limitless depths of evil to which it can sink. …

The publisher of former Gawker Media sites including Deadspin and Gizmodo began running sound-on autoplay ads to boost the impressions it could deliver for Farmers Insurance Group, according to people familiar with the situation.

“Half our customers are drunk and vaping like mo-fos, who the fuck is going to notice the quality of our pods,” the former CEO allegedly said. Juul says the lawsuit is “baseless.”

Big tech isn’t interested in a better world, just a more profitable one. We need to break its stranglehold on us, says Guardian US columnist Rebecca Solnit

More information: https://jscamp.tech

Eliezer Yudkowsky’s Inadequate Equilibria is a sharp and lively guidebook for anyone questioning when and how they can know better, and do better, than the status quo. Freely mixing debates on the foundations of rational decision-making with tips for everyday life, Yudkowsky explores the central question of when we can (and can’t) expect to spot systemic inefficiencies, and exploit them.

I. Allen Ginsberg’s famous poem on Moloch:What sphinx of cement and aluminum bashed open their skulls and ate up their brains and imagination? Moloch! Solitude! Filth! Ugliness! Ashcans and u…

In which Noah Kagan kicks my ass.

The assertiveness movement has taken a male-defined value system and sold it back to us as feminism.

As WeWork crashes and Uber bleeds cash, the consumer-tech gold rush may be coming to an end.

The untold story of how digital detectives unraveled the mystery of Olympic Destroyer—and why the next big cyberattack will be even harder to crack.

Using lobbying, the revolving door and “dark pattern” customer tricks, Intuit fended off the government’s attempts to make tax filing free and easy, and created its multi-billion-dollar franchise.

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From San Diego to the Philippines, a Republican digital marketing entrepreneur created one of the biggest Facebook scams of all time.

Sometimes life forces us to choose between doing the right thing and doing the profitable thing. Tom Greenwood explains how it is these choices that help…

It's the NBA's silent scourge, a pox on the bodies and minds of players. This two-year investigation reveals the dangers of chronic sleep loss in the NBA -- and why one athletic specialist is finally sounding the alarm.

Interested in improving your relationships Try Nonviolent Communication via Instapaper https://www.clearerthinking.org/single-post/2019/03/06/Want-to-improve-your-relationships-Try-Nonviolent-Communication-1