The most authentic space in the workplace is the bathroom. It’s the place where employees go to find momentary solace, to break down, to text their significant other, to face themselves in the mirror. Office bathrooms (or their pandemic alternative, the private Slack channel) are where workers vent about toxic corporate culture. They’re where schemes for solidarity are assembled. Office bathrooms are where people go to bare their physiological and emotional realities away from company judgment. READ MORE
A 29-year-old CEO is pushing crypto during the Super Bowl by giving away millions in bitcoin
Americans tuning in to the Super Bowl on Sunday will be inundated with ads from cryptocurrency companies, including the trading platform FTX, which plans to give away millions of dollars in bitcoin.
FTX has spent heavily on sports partnerships to try to make itself a brand name in crypto, including an ad with NFL star Tom Brady, a sponsorship with Major League Baseball and a $135 million deal to rename the Miami Heat’s stadium the FTX Arena. READ MORE
The biggest chip deal in history has fallen apart
SoftBank's record-breaking sale of a prized chip designer to Nvidia has officially been called off.
At an initial value of $40 billion, the US chipmaker's acquisition of British design firm ARM would have been the largest semiconductor deal on record. READ MORE
Whether Remote Or On-Site, Here’s How The Hottest Early-Stage Startups Compare
Remember the days when working at a hot early-stage startup meant trekking to an office in a major tech center like Silicon Valley or Boston?
These days, a commute is not necessarily required. At scores of venture-backed companies, the ability to work from home is already the status quo—a perk as ingrained as office-based enticements like free coffee and snacks. READ MORE
Forget America's Great Resignation. It's the Great Upgrade
The churn in the American job market is without precedent.
A record number of American workers quit their jobs last year — of the 68.9 million separations in 2021, 47.4 million jobs were left voluntarily. READ MORE
Crunched for Workers? It's Time to Consider Rapid Hiring
With plans to onboard 100,000 new employees, Home Depot is making job offers (almost) on the spot. Other businesses might want to follow suit. READ MORE
Revolutionary material stronger than steel yet as light as plastic developed by MIT
Scientists at MIT have developed a material that is as light as plastic — but stronger than steel. They believe the material could revolutionize the car, mobile phone and building industries. READ MORE
U.S. on the road to 1950s-style unemployment, but it may only be a pit stop
The last time the U.S. unemployment rate fell below 3%, as one Federal Reserve official has predicted it will this year, the Korean War was nearing its end and a recession that saw legions of workers lose their jobs was just around the corner. READ MORE
The US desperately needs skilled workers. But the colleges that train them are woefully underfunded
As America seeks to train workers for the hundreds of thousands of new infrastructure jobs that are being created, it will have to lean heavily on community colleges.
But these workhorses of workforce development are facing some infrastructure issues of their own. READ MORE
Peloton is wounded. Amazon, Nike or Apple could buy it
Peloton (PTON) has a target on its back.
The company's exercise bikes were a huge hit early in the pandemic. Now, it's struggling to maintain its growth as people spend more time outside their homes — and would-be buyers are circling. READ MORE
Why Elon Musk and Joe Biden both love EVs but can't stand each other
President Joe Biden loves electric vehicles.
He wants half of all new US cars sold by 2030 to be EVs. He proposed a series of incentives to help make that happen -- including tax credits for buyers and government support for charging stations. READ MORE
No quick fix for chip shortage
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo warned during a call with reporters on Friday that there will be no quick fix to resolve the semiconductor shortage contributing to supply chain disruptions causing a ripple effect across the economy. READ MORE
The US is starting to make a manufacturing comeback. Here's how to sustain it
The Covid-19 pandemic has laid bare the vulnerabilities in America's domestic manufacturing base. The nation's reliance on globally fragmented supply chains has led to shortages of everything from personal protective equipment to semiconductors to shipping containers. And these supply weaknesses have been a primary driver of elevated price increases. READ MORE
Biden's job creation numbers are nuts
As the media recently noticed, President Joe Biden has a long history of overpromising and under-delivering. For many politicians, such overpromises are forgiven – or just forgotten. But presidents’ words are closely parsed, which makes Biden’s statements about job creation at last week’s press conference so bewildering. READ MORE
Growth and the remote work revolution
For once since 2022 began, Thursday featured some good news on the economy.
Last year’s fourth quarter and full year growth checked in at unexpectedly strong levels and Apple (AAPL) posted a record quarter, two recent instances where data or earnings haven’t disappointed investors. In spite of a litany of reasons like Omicron, inflation, impending rate hikes and a snarled supply chain, the world’s largest economy somehow finds new ways to defy expectations. READ MORE
Omicron deals major blow to 'struggling' restaurant industry
Executive Vice President of Public Affairs at the National Restaurant Association Sean Kennedy argued on Thursday that the industry is currently "struggling" to keep doors open, noting that the vast majority of owners say conditions are worse now compared to a few months ago. READ MORE
Don’t Hire a Former Employee Before Asking These Questions
Many employees are on the move, looking for that next opportunity. Perhaps they want a bigger challenge, more money, or believe they need to leave their current company to advance their career. But what if they leave your company and realize the new opportunity wasn’t as great as they thought, or they left years ago, gained new skills, and now want to come back? Should you hire them? READ MORE
These board-level solutions are crucial in the battle for talent
As the world continues to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and the simultaneous economic evolution taking place, the dynamic labor market presents a wide array of risks and opportunities for any corporation. Many companies are accelerating the sophistication of their workforce strategies in order to survive the Great Resignation.
This effort includes increased commitment to culture, equity, inclusion, social responsibility, and employee empowerment. READ MORE
My Family Is Trapped in the Metaverse
On a whim, I recently started rewatching Ready Player One, the Steven Spielberg adaptation of Ernest Cline’s seminal novel about a future in which virtual reality is the real world. In the opening scene, protagonist Wade Watts clambers around a ramshackle trailer park before placing a headset on his face. Everyone has largely abandoned the decrepit, rundown reality for the Oasis—a virtual world of limitless possibilities, where everyone can do, be, or look like pretty much anything they want. READ MORE
Researchers Build AI That Builds AI
Artificial intelligence is largely a numbers game. When deep neural networks, a form of AI that learns to discern patterns in data, began surpassing traditional algorithms 10 years ago, it was because we finally had enough data and processing power to make full use of them. READ MORE