Underdog Sign Up Information

Stuff We’re Reading

Gender Diversity on Start-Up Boards Is Worse Than You Think 
Research suggests that when it comes to gender, there is strength in numbers: Boards typically need three women to fully capture the economic returns to board diversity. So how do we make that a reality? This report by the Harvard Business Review highlights the findings of a new joint study by Crunchbase, Him for Her, and the Kellogg School of Management on gender equality in corporate boards. Their conclusion? There is a lot of work to be done.

Would You Take a Drug Discovered by Artificial Intelligence?
A British startup claims it has developed the first medication created using AI that will be clinically tested on humans. Meant to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder, the medication took less than a year from conception to trial-ready capsule. As remarkable as the new drug’s development seems, there’s still room for some healthy skepticism as we grapple with new questions about the role of technology in our lives.

This Identity Activist Wants to Make Facebook Obsolete
In a society where our digital self is fragmented and owned by third parties, Kaliya Young dreams of a world where we have unified digital identities that can move easily between different platforms online. Her vision is one of a decentralized system where we own our own digital selves, building movements and making our communities better. She has a platform and a plan, and she wants to make tech fairer for all.

Stuff We’re Reading

Want a More Equitable Future? Empower Citizen Developers
As we battle cascading disruptions from a global pandemic, economic strain, climate-related crises, and unrest over racial injustice, technology should be part of a solution—but technology alone is not enough. To drive innovation, we need to put technology in the hands of every worker, organization, and public-sector agency around the world.

AI Has Cracked a Problem That Stumped Biologists for 50 Years
Proteins are the basic machines that get work done in your cells. They start out as strings of amino acids but soon fold up into a unique three-dimensional shape. That 3D shape is crucial because it helps scientists and drug developers identify the molecules that can bind to the protein, fitting into it to alter its behavior. The trouble is, predicting which shape a protein will take is incredibly hard. Now, the AI research lab DeepMind says its AI system, AlphaFold, has solved the “protein folding problem,” opening up new pathways to understand disease and discover new drugs. 

How to Avoid Burnout by Working Less and Doing More
Burnout is a wide-spread issue, but with the pandemic it's taken center stage. Disruption of routine and added stress and anxiety have only exacerbated the problem - people are simply exhausted - and something has got to give. This article offers concrete tips (with accompanying graphics) on how to leverage priorities, positive constraints, and psychology to avoid a long-term funk.
 

Stuff We’re Enjoying

Tone Is Hard to Grasp Online. Can Tone Indicators Help?
Written language is an imperfect method for the messy, complex business of communication, especially on the internet. Now, young people are leading a sincere effort to clear things up.

Friends, Fleetwood Mac, and the Viral Comfort of Nostalgia
During chaos, we seek familiarity, it's a way to cope with the instability of the world. If there’s one thing that brings people together now, it’s old shows, old songs, and drinking Ocean Spray Cran-Raspberry juice to a 1977 hit. 

Stuff We’re Reading

What 2020 Means for Encryption
Encryption, or the process of scrambling information so only the intended recipients can decipher it, has recently become a hot button issue. While most uses of encryption are uncontroversial, the wide availability of techniques has opened up new political questions around lawful access. In this guide, The Verge takes a deep dive into the world of encryption: what it is, what it isn’t, why it’s controversial, and how it might be changed.

Kids’ Brains May Hold the Secret to Building Better AI
Way back in 1950, the computer science pioneer Alan Turing hit on a promising direction for artificial intelligence research: studying the child's mind. To the developmental psychologist Alison Gopnik, this approach is the obvious way to go. In this transcribed conversation, Gopnik delves into her research and predictions for the future of AI, explaining how studying children can teach programmers valuable lessons about how to create machines that learn.

How to Work From Home Without Losing Your Mind
As the new coronavirus continues its romp around the globe and people look for logical ways to combat the spread of disease, companies like Twitter and Square are taking the step of asking employees to work from home whenever possible, and more could potentially follow their lead. So how can we make the most out of remote work? The answer seems to lie in snacks, boundaries, and frequent communication.

Stuff We’re Reading

Black Investors Call on VCs to Fix Hiring and Funding
Few things have been disrupted less in Silicon Valley than its demographics, which for decades now have been overwhelmingly white and male. Critics have called out Silicon Valley’s diversity issues for years, but suddenly more people are taking note. Too often diversity initiatives serve firms' public images, without actually helping Black founders. But mentoring and networking advice aren’t enough to solve the industry’s dismal diversity numbers. True change will come from fixing the systemic issues in funding that keep Black founders out. 

Is This the End of Productivity?
In recent years more than ever, work is heralded as a way of life, and productivity is the currency by which we measure our own self-worth. But amid the pandemic, workers whose jobs once defined their lives are questioning what life looks like when work isn't the center. In other words, what if productivity was tied less to individual accomplishment than to a greater sense of community?

IBM Will No Longer Offer, Develop, or Research Facial Recognition Technology
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna has penned a letter to congress announcing that the company will no longer offer general purpose facial recognition or analysis software, and will also no longer develop or research the technology. Despite great improvements in facial recognition software over the last decade due to advances in AI, the technology has been shown to suffer from bias along lines of age, race, and ethnicity, making the tools unreliable for law enforcement and ripe for potential civil rights abuses. 
 

Stuff We’re Enjoying

Find & Support Black-Owned Businesses Near You
This list by Refinery29 compiles the top-ranking websites and apps that allow you to locate and patronize Black-owned businesses in your area. Download these apps and visit these websites to find restaurants, stores, and a variety of different establishments all founded by Black entrepreneurs.

Every Episode of The Office Recreated in Slack
If you ever wanted to experience the hilarity of The Office in real life, now is your chance! Creative collective MSCHF has set out to recreate all 201 episodes of the beloved TV show over live slack messages, Mondays through Fridays, nine-to-five, GIFs and all.  

New “Call a Senior” Programs are Sparking Unexpected Friendships in Quarantine
Since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s been clear that seniors are among the most vulnerable groups. That’s true not only when it comes to physical health but also mental health. Some states, cities, and organizations have lurched into action with 'call check in' programs to let our senior citizens know that they are not alone. 
 

Stuff We’re Reading

The Future of American Industry Depends on Open Source Tech
In this opinion piece, Kevin Xu and Jordan Schneider argue that the key to American industrial progress is not a costly trade war with China, but rather fully embracing the fastest, safest, and most democratic way of advancing technology - open source.

Everybody Hates Digital Calendars, So Everybody’s Trying to Build a Better One
Digital calendars are a prominent part of modern life, especially as remote work becomes more wide-spread. They help employees make sense of their day and bosses make sense of the work that's getting done. But too often, the work that's getting done is just…dealing with calendars. Too many people feel like they're always late, always behind, and never have time to really focus. Now several startups are betting that better calendars are crucial for the future of work.

Big Tech’s Domination of Business Reaches New Heights
American tech titans flew high before the coronavirus pandemic, making billions of dollars a year. But the recent upheaval has lifted them to new heights. The biggest tech companies are amassing wealth and influence at staggering rates, putting the industry in a position to dominate American business in a way unseen since the days of railroads.
 

Stuff We’re Enjoying 

The Unexpected Joy of the Worst Summer of Our Lives
In this series of drawings, cartoonist and writer Christine Mi explores the idea of joy during the pandemic, and how she found solace in the quietest places.

How 14 Elephant Seals Assisted an Antarctic Ice Study
Mapping currents in the Southern Ocean is vital to monitoring climate change, but hard to conduct. So scientists turned to seals for help

Stuff We’re Reading

AI Cracks Key Mathematical Puzzle for Understanding Our World
Partial differential equations (or PDEs) can describe everything from planetary motion to plate tectonics, but they’re notoriously hard to solve. Disciplines that use a lot of PDEs often rely on supercomputers to do the math, and the AI field has taken a special interest in these equations. Now researchers at Caltech have introduced a new deep-learning technique for solving PDEs that is dramatically more accurate and faster than deep-learning methods developed previously - with tremendous implications for scientific inquiry and engineering.

How Will Tech Policy Change In The Biden White House?
Like the man he's set to replace, President-elect Joe Biden doesn't plan to play nice with Silicon Valley. He has promised to go hard on Big Tech, both taking Facebook to task for not doing enough to curb disinformation and backing the repeal of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a law that has long protected the technology industry.

The 40 Best Questions to Ask in an Interview
As a candidate, prepping for an interview can feel like a job that’s never fully done. From editing your resume to researching the company and interview panel, there’s a daunting pile of prep work to tackle — and an insatiable need for advice to help get you through it. This guide, compiled with input from founders and startup leaders, focuses on the moment when the interviewer turns to the candidate and asks the inevitable, “Do you have any questions for me?” 
 

Stuff We’re Enjoying

Five of Alex Trebek's Funniest Moments
Alex Trebek, the legendary "Jeopardy!" host who died at the age of 80 on Sunday, will undoubtedly be remembered for his matter-of-fact manners and no-nonsense attitude. But despite his tendency towards reservedness he could be undeniably hilarious, keeping us smiling and entertained for 36 years. 

Who Is the Smartest Dog? Let the Competition Begin
Scientists in Hungary are live-streaming experiments with dogs that know many words, featuring them in a contest of canine intelligence (and what will definitely be the cutest competition of the year). 

Stuff We’re Reading

The Science Behind Making Software Engineering Interviews Truly Predictive of Job Performance
In this post, Geoff Roberts from Qualified.io, dives deep into the science and research behind the notion of predictive hiring processes, and how it applies to Software Engineering interviews. His conclusion: predictive hiring helps deliver better software engineers with the skills required to be successful on the job.

AI Is Coming for Your Most Mind-Numbing Office Tasks
Routine work, like cutting and pasting between documents, is increasingly being automated. For now, there's little artificial intelligence involved, but if AI is going to disrupt white-collar work, this may be how it begins.
 

Stuff We’re Enjoying 

Stuck at Home? These 12 Famous Museums Offer Virtual Tours You Can Take on Your Couch
Right now, many of us are staying inside, doing our part to socially distance - but that doesn't mean we have to be bored! These 12 virtual museum tours offer an intimate look at some of the most famous art and artifacts from around the globe.

With the Aquarium Closed to Humans, Penguins Explore
Although they are closed to visitors, Chicago's Shedd Aquarium is making the best of the situation and finding new ways to provide their animals with necessary enrichment. Luckily for us, this included taking their penguins on a special "field trip" to visit their aquatic neighbors. 

During Quarantine, Balconies Worldwide Set the Stage for DJ Sets, Squats and Singing
Despite the uncertainty and anxiety that many are feeling right now due to the Covid-19 outbreak, people around the world are demonstrating the resilience of the human spirit. 

Stuff We’re Reading

Google Debuts AI in Google Translate to Address Gender Bias
On April 22nd, Google announced the release of four new language pairs of gender-specific translations in Google Translate. This innovation leverages a new paradigm to address gender bias by rewriting or post-editing initial translations. A gender-neutral approach to language translation and computer vision is a part of Google’s larger effort to mitigate prejudice in AI systems.

Meet the Renegade Engineers on Slack Trying to Fix the Coronavirus Supplies Shortage 
When Charles He, a machine learning freelancer, realized Covid-19 was coming to the United States, he stocked up to prepare for months of social distancing. And then he started a Slack. The idea was to connect people who wanted to work on efficient devices that could help fight the pandemic. The result: a 13,000 person digital community called Helpful Engineering, which now boasts thousands of volunteers working on dozens of projects with the ultimate aim of solving some of the tough problems that Covid-19 and our response to the pandemic pose.  

The Pandemic Work Diary of a Video-Streaming C.E.O
In this interview, Vimeo’s CEO Anjali Sud walks us through her day-to-day routine, offering a glimpse into how she and other business leaders navigate running their companies in this unprecedented time. Key ingredients in Anjali's recipe for success? Compassion, compromise, and flexibility. 
 

Stuff We’re Enjoying

All the Cozy Little Things Keep Me Going
The sound of rain, the feel of a pencil, the routine of making the bed—the power of these things to make us feel better, even in a pandemic, shouldn’t be underestimated.

The Defiant Beauty of Cherry Blossom Season
Cherry Blossom Season is upon us. While festivals might be canceled, the trees are still doing their thing. And you can experience the magnificence from a safe distance.

Stuff We’re Reading

The Cyber-Avengers Protecting Hospitals From Ransomware
As medical facilities strain amid the pandemic, they’re especially vulnerable to cyberattacks. Armed with this knowledge, a global coalition of volunteer experts have stepped into the breach to protect our hospitals. 

Coinbase Has Drawn a Line in the Sand for Its Activist Employees
In an open letter published September 27th, Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase explained that, going forward, his company would eschew and discourage any political activity inside the company that doesn't relate to their stated mission of "creating an open financial system." While the decision has its supporters, critics have called the choice fundamentally cowardly and on the wrong side of history. Time will tell if this is indeed the case, but in today’s culture, Armstrong’s stance is such a line in the sand that bigger questions are at stake.

The Tech That Might Help Cyclists and Cars Coexist Safely
With the Covid-19 pandemic, more Americans are riding bikes and discovering the joys of cycling. However, these new bikers are also discovering the dangers of riding on two wheels, especially in cities. Can tech companies find ways to make the streets safer for everyone?
 

Stuff We’re Enjoying

People in Taiwan Can Ride the Subway With Poké Balls
The NFC-powered payment cards used to pay for public transit in Taipei, Taiwan, are so popular that not only have other businesses started accepting them, they’re also available in endless shapes and sizes, including an official Poké Ball-shaped smartcard that lights up when you’ve successfully made a purchase.

A Startup With a Plan to Help More Families Buy in Bulk
Buying in bulk is typically a great way to save money. However, poorer folks often wind up spending more on everyday goods and services simply because they can’t afford the bulk-sized products that offer a better bargain. José Manuel Moller is on a mission to create an efficient, automated bulk-dispensing system for staple food and cleaning products — opening up economies of scale to customers at all income levels. 

Stuff We’re Reading

A Case for Cooperation Between Machines and Humans
For decades, Ben Shneiderman, a University of Maryland computer scientist, has warned that the quest for fully automated robots is misguided, perhaps even dangerous. He argues that the risk is not just of creating unsafe machines, but of absolving humans of ethical responsibility for actions taken by autonomous systems. Robots provide the potential for tremendous progress, but the goal should be a future where robots collaborate with humans, rather than replace them.

Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield on the Future of Work
Founded in 2009, Slack exploded in popularity in 2014, and has seen a new wave of growth during the COVID-19 crisis. Along the way, it’s reset expectations about what collaboration in software can look like. In this transcribed interview, the Verge's Nilay Patel sits down with Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield to talk about everything from racing to meet the surge of users during the pandemic, competing with Microsoft, the future of offices, and of course, how to manage all those messages.

It's Called Artificial Intelligence—but What Is Intelligence?
Elizabeth Spelke, a cognitive psychologist at Harvard, has spent her career testing the world’s most sophisticated learning system—the mind of a baby. At just a few months old, babies begin to grasp how the physical world works, the foundations of language, and how to adapt to unfamiliar situations, feats beyond the reach of any AI. Yet even experts like Spelke don't understand precisely how babies—or adults, for that matter—learn. That gap points to a puzzle at the heart of modern artificial intelligence: We're not sure what to aim for.
 

Stuff We’re Enjoying

When Manhattan Was Mannahatta: A Stroll Through the Centuries
Before the first Dutch colonists sailed through the Narrows into New York Harbor, Manhattan was still what the Lenape, who had already lived here for centuries, called Mannahatta. In this article, Eric W. Sanderson, a senior conservation ecologist for the Wildlife Conservation Society, takes us on a virtual tour through the evolution of lower Manhattan.

This Interactive Graph Shows How Long Every ‘Simpsons’ Prediction Took to Come True
Over its 30-plus years on TV, The Simpsons has proven a reliable prognosticator of future events. Seffana Mohamed-Ajaz, an analytical consultant, decided to dive deep into this somewhat strange phenomenon, and created this fun (and just slightly unsettling) interactive data visualization. 

Stuff We’re Reading

The Tech That's Championing the Public Good
The first nine months of 2020 have felt like a lifetime and like no time at all. In one quick moment, everything important became mediated through screens. While technologies are lifelines connecting us to one another, they also increasingly pull us apart. If anything, 2020 has made it ever more clear how critical it is to consider the public purpose and implications of the technologies we use. These Tech Spotlight finalists, selected from over 200 submissions worldwide, show us how we can use technology, not for selfish gain or to magically solve all of our problems, but to shape a better future together.

10 Data-Driven Ways to Use Your Resume to Get Interviews
In this blog post, the folks at Relocate synthesize the findings from their analysis of over 30,000 developer resumes, giving us their top 10 tips for the art and science of writing an effective resume.

Why the US Government is Suing Google
Last week after a 14-month investigation, the United States government filed a landmark lawsuit against Google, accusing the search giant of using unfair and illegal practices to preserve its search and search advertising monopoly. The announcement unveiled the biggest antitrust case against a tech company since the Microsoft antitrust case in 1998 - and the fallout could be momentous. This article breaks down all the details: the case, its political consequences, and the complicated path ahead for Google and the DOJ.

Stuff We’re Enjoying

Impossible Foods is Working on Plant-Based Milk That Tastes Like the Real Thing
Fresh off their success with the faux meat market, Impossible Foods is venturing into dairy territory with the announcement of a plant-based dairy product designed to function and behave just like animal-derived cow’s milk. Lattes here we come! 

Really, Really Short Workouts
High-intensity interval training — referred to as H.I.I.T. — is based on the idea that short bursts of strenuous exercise (even just 4 minutes!) can have a big impact on the body. If you think you don't have time to exercise, H.I.I.T may be the workout for you.

Stuff We’re Reading

Prepare for Artificial Intelligence to Produce Less Wizardry
AI has produced rapid and dazzling innovations over the past few years. However, advances have hinged on throwing ever-more computing resources at the problems. A new paper argues that the computing demands of deep learning are so great that progress might not be able to keep up. 

Talent Today: A Survey on How Startups Recruit, Retain, and Compensate Their Teams
While many look to major tech corporations like Google and Facebook to set the tone for workplace policy standards, startups also play a key role in shaping industry expectations. To get a better sense of how companies are approaching the new environment, Greylock Partners conducted an informal survey of 48 portfolio companies. Their insights give a framework for strategic planning in a post-pandemic world. 

I Tried to Live Without the Tech Giants. It Was Impossible
As lawmakers debate whether Apple, Google, Facebook, and Amazon are monopolies, a reporter recalls her attempt to avoid interacting with the companies, reminding us just how entwined big tech is in our daily lives. 
 

Stuff We’re Enjoying 

Dancing Robots Replace Fans at Japanese Baseball Game
With their stadium devoid of fans due to coronavirus restrictions, Japanese baseball team Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks have come up with an imaginative replacement: dancing robots.

What Happened to Nuts on Planes?
With airline sales plummeting, there's a massive surplus of roasted nuts at this Dallas-Fort Worth shop - 50,000 pounds to be exact - and nows your chance to get them at a steep discount. 

Stuff We’re Reading

What Comes After Zoom Fatigue
As the 5th month of the Covid-19 crisis ends, the majority of our work and social activities are still happening via webcam. This constant reliance on video chat has created a unique sense of fatigue. But video calls are most likely here to stay, so how do move forward? Much like those who were gobsmacked by telephones a century ago, we’re likely witnessing a transformation in communication — a leap forward with no return. The new thing is scary, imperfect, and often off-putting. We might as well make the best of it.

Did a Person Write This Headline, or a Machine?
GPT-3, a new text-generating program from OpenAI, is provoking chills across Silicon Valley. Built by directing machine-learning algorithms to study the statistical patterns in almost a trillion words, it uses its digest of that immense corpus to respond to a text prompt by generating new text with similar statistical patterns. GPT-3 can generate memes, poems, tweets, and guitar tabs, but arguments continue over the technology's moral and philosophical status.

The Pandemic Has Accelerated Demands for a More Skilled Work Force
Economists, business leaders and labor experts have warned for years that a coming wave of automation and digital technology would upend the work force, destroying some jobs while altering how and where work is done for nearly everyone. The Coronavirus pandemic has turned some of those predictions into reality. Experts agree that the solution lies in significant public investment in programs to upgrade the skills of American workers.
 

Stuff We’re Enjoying

Senior Citizens Recreate Classic Album Covers
Residents and staff at the Sydmar Lodge Care Home in the UK have been recreating classic album covers while in lockdown, proving that creativity has no age limit.

Duck, Duck, Duck
If you want a calming break, take a look at DashDuck, a live feed of ducks swimming, eating, and living their best duck lives. 

 

Stuff We’re Reading

How Resilience Works
In this article from the Harvard Business Review, journalist Diane Coutu explores the concept of resilience and its implications in the business world. It is apparent that in the face of incredible uncertainty and hardship some individuals and companies buckle under pressure, yet others bend and ultimately bounce back. This knack for survival begs the question, how do we test for resilience - and ultimately, what does it mean? 

Silicon Valley, It's Your Chance to Turn the Tide
Over the course of mere weeks, we have witnessed an upending of our entire economy and the most basic tenets of social life. In the blink of an eye, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Zoom went from operating our social communications, to becoming the dedicated social habitats for humankind. This dramatic and sudden shift means that these platforms have tremendous responsibility in the way they shape our perception of the world during this time of crisis.

We Need to Start Modeling Alternative Futures
In this transcribed interview, Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel sits down (virtually) with Amy Webb, the founder and CEO of The Future Today Institute. In their conversation, they discuss the Institute's 2020 Tech Trends Report, a quantitative look at the big trends that will dominate the future, and how to confront and conquer the inevitable unpredictability to come.
 

Stuff We’re Enjoying

56 April Fools’ Day Jokes
In honor of April Fools' Day, (yes it's finally April!) enjoy this roundup of 50 jokes, funny bits, and tweets to get you chuckling. 

How To Make Dalgona Coffee
Dalgona Coffee (otherwise known as whipped coffee) is currently taking over social media, and whether you follow trends or not, being stuck inside is the perfect opportunity to experiment with new recipes! 

Best Meditation Apps
Meditation can help you to sleep better, reduce your stress levels, and find some much-needed inner peace, but with hundreds of meditation apps on the market, how do you choose the right one? This guide provides a breakdown of some of the top meditation apps, so you can find the best tool to cultivate a bit more calm and a little less stress in your life. 

Stuff We’re Reading

Goodbye to the Wild Wild Web
Within a 48-hour period this week, many of the world’s internet giants took steps to curtail hate-speech and bullying that would have been unthinkable for them even months earlier. The tech industry’s decade-long experiment in unregulated growth and lax platform governance is coming to an end. In its place, a new culture is taking shape that is more accountable, more self-aware and less willfully naïve than the one that came before it.

A Startup Takes ‘Investing in People’ Literally. Not Everyone Approves
Human IPO, a marketplace for investing in people, lets individuals sell their time on the open market. But could the platform inflate the “value” of certain types of people over others? Its cofounders believe their valuation model is agnostic—but it may still reflect an unequal world.

What America Asks of Working Parents Is Impossible
More and more, the goals of being a dedicated employee and being a dedicated parent seem to be in conflict. In this transcribed interview, the Atlantic's Joe Pinsker speaks with Christine M. Beckman and Melissa Mazmanian, the authors of Dreams of the Overworked: Living, Working and Parenting in the Digital Age, about the impossible standards we hold working parents to, and how we can attempt to change things. 
 

Stuff We’re Enjoying

World’s Best Nature Photos: 18 Finalists In Agora 2020 Contest
With more than 11,000 submissions from amateur and professional photographers, the 50 finalists of Agora’s Best Photos of Nature are a stunning visual reminder of the immense beauty of our planet, and our duty to protect it. 

24 Things You Might Not Have Known About Hamilton
With the much-anticipated release of the movie version of Hamilton this past weekend, we've got the founding father on the brain. So here are some lesser known facts about the creation of the musical phenomenon. 
 

Stuff We’re Reading

The Race for a Covid Vaccine Was More About Luck Than Tech
Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna's mRNA platforms are amazing, but the reality of how these companies came to win the vaccine race in the US is both more prosaic and more intriguing than it’s been made to seem. Yes, mRNA technology is new and different; and it’s true that progress on the Covid vaccines was more rapid than any that we’ve seen before. But those two facts aren’t so tightly linked. In fact, but for the specific ways in which the coronavirus has progressed around the world, we could have ended up with a very different set of options at this point. 

The Controversy Behind a Star Google AI Researcher’s Departure
AI ethics researcher Timnit Gebru — a well-respected pioneer in her field and one of the few Black women leaders in the industry — said on December 2 that Google fired her after blocking the publication of her research around bias in AI systems. Now some are worried it will have a chilling effect on academics in tech.

Do Clouds Pay Taxes?
Could Airbnb have gotten off the ground in any city other than San Francisco? In this piece from his newsletter Margins, Can Duruk ponders the significance of location in an era of cloud-based, borderless work. The question of financial, political, and cultural loyalties will only become more pertinent as increasing numbers of companies become not-only digital, but also baseless. In other words, when we are not tied to a single place, be it a city or a country, where do our allegiances lie when push comes to shove? 
 

Stuff We’re Enjoying 

Giving Billions Fast, MacKenzie Scott Upends Philanthropy
Through a streamlined operation and with little fanfare, MacKenzie Scott has given away $6 billion this year, much of it to small charities and nonprofits.

The 7 Best TikTok Videos of 2020
Many could argue that TikTok is the defining platform of 2020. To celebrate the ingenuity of TikTok’s users, Vogue has rounded up the seven TikToks that gave us the most faith in humanity during this incredibly challenging year.

Stuff We’re Reading

Google’s New Union
This past Monday morning, more than 220 Google tech employees announced that they had formed a union. This represents one of the first times white-collar workers at a major US tech company have officially moved to unionize. It’s a sign that worker activism is still alive and well at Google, even as the company faces political scrutiny over its size and power over the economy. Google's work culture is at a crossroads, and the formation of the new Alphabet Workers Union is an important step forward, but it has a long road ahead.

A Farewell to Adobe Flash—and the Messy, Glorious Web
On December 31, Flash died. Adobe stopped updates and now recommends you uninstall it. Flash’s death is, in many ways, incidental—there may even be an impulse to welcome it. But the software’s end is also a synecdoche of an aesthetic project years in the making. It’s a reminder of how the web has been cleaned up. Flash helped create a messy and amateur internet. It’s a far cry from the glossy, corporate one we know now.

The 2020 Good Tech Awards
This year, technology did more for us than ever — helping us work from home, set up remote schools, communicate with our loved ones, organize for racial justice, protect the integrity of an election and keep the economy running during a pandemic. And all over the world, technologists stepped up to help solve critical problems and keep us safe. These are the most humane and altruistic tech projects of the year - and the people behind them.
 

Stuff We’re Enjoying

In India, Smartphones and Cheap Data Are Giving Women a Voice
About 200 million women in the country are illiterate. But voice memo and image-sharing apps make it easier to connect, communicate, and run businesses.

How to Stop the Negative Chatter in Your Head
Ethan Kross is an experimental psychologist and neuroscientist who specializes in emotion regulation. Here he explains how to use "cognitive reappraisal," or the practice of replacing negative thoughts with ones that are both more positive and true, to promote better mental health, more life satisfaction, and even a better-functioning heart.