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Late last year, Meta (previously Facebook) came under intense scrutiny after leaked documents revealed the company was fully aware of the negative impact its products, Instagram in particular can have on users’ mental health. Meta went straight into damage control. But it seemed no one was particularly surprised by the news – not even teenage girls, who Meta identified as most at risk. Was the leak just confirming what we already suspected: that social media has the potential to be much more harmful than helpful?...

The process can also involve intrusive scrutiny of your digital footprints. Behind the scenes, up to 80% of employers and recruitment agencies use social media content as part of their assessment of candidate suitability. Being open online about health conditions, addiction issues or pregnancy can adversely affect an applicant’s chances of success when applying for jobs, as can a profile which shows polarised views, non-mainstream lifestyle choices, or excessive partying....

Alcohol disinhibits us, making us say and do things that we’d otherwise keep under wraps. People will often drink to gain “Dutch courage” in a demanding situation. Many of us can understand the appeal of having a drink before a blind date or a social event – it can help to calm our nerves and cultivate confidence. That’s because alcohol has a depressant effect which makes us feel more relaxed....

Your professional experience is great. You’ve nailed the test problems. But halfway through the interview, they ask you, “What’s your motivation to work here?” and you find yourself rambling, or stammering, or staring blank-faced at them. Motivation is such a complex and nuanced feeling for each person that it can be difficult to sum up neatly in a job interview. Or you might have a very simple motivation: maybe it’s to “earn enough to look after myself and my family” or to “keep adding to my sweet vinyl collection....

Work is, in fact, ever-changing, ever-evolving, always progressively, never at once, as we create new problems just as fast as we solve old ones. Case in point: technology has allowed us to “invent” the Gig Economy, which has led to the creation of an entirely new industry of frankly terrible jobs. So, if work won’t disappear, but roles will evolve because of technology, demographic shifts, urbanisation, scarcity, climate change… what career should our kids aspire to jump into once out of Space University?...

People used to say that everyone has a book in them. And they’re probably right. Everyone has at least one story that only they could tell. It’s just a matter of giving that story shape, committing it to the page, and giving it to the world. But today, it might be more accurate to say that everyone has a podcast in them. Whether it’s a deep dive into an area of passion, an exploration of a sub-culture or lifestyle, or just a unique perspective on some aspect of the world, a podcast is a freeing, yet intimate venue to both engage and enlighten....

While large CSR initiatives are impressive, there are smaller efforts that all businesses can make to practice social responsibility within their industries. In this article, I’ll demonstrate how social media marketers can practice social responsibility toward their audience and the businesses or clients they represent. You can use the information as a guideline for authentic, responsible social media marketing. Commit to thorough content research When creating content for social media such as blog posts and articles, thorough research makes a difference....

While I’m somewhat grateful that I no longer have to drag myself there, I find myself longing for the post-workout buzz more and more since working and being at home full-time. [Read: 5 easy stretch routines to make working from home more bearable] Luckily for me — and you, of course — I’ve found and tried some excellent high-intensity interval training (HIIT) sessions you can easily squeeze in throughout the day, without having to use any fancy equipment....

But as with any workspace platform, things don’t always go smoothly. It can be messy, overwhelming, distracting, and, well, you name it. So here are seven tips to help your team make the most out of it: 1. Set clear communication goals and expectations What are you using Slack for? Does it serve daily updates, in-flow queries, or lunch appointments? This will help you clarify why and when you should use it, and will enable you to decide which channels your team needs....

To find out more about how an organization can become more environmentally responsible while also supporting business development, I asked a panel of entrepreneurs from YEC the following question: What kind of green technologies should small businesses be looking at in order to help their company grow? Here is what they said: Cloud Computing Remote Work Technologies Utilize technologies that will make remote work more of an option at your business....

When it comes to dark mode for websites there are multiple approaches. In this post, I’ll be discussing two different approaches, with one being the easiest to implement, and the second being my preferred option and the option that I actually used to implement dark mode on livecodestream.dev . Let’s get started with the first option. Dark mode in a few lines of code The first option works with the use of “dark” magic....

There aren’t very many magic pills when it comes to boosting web traffic. Sure, you could hire an Instagram influencer to pimp your product in a post, but outside of throwing big money at the problem, methods for guaranteeing an increase in visitors to your website are always a tricky proposition. However…SEO absolutely works. Time and again, statistics prove over and over that the strategic use of the right keywords can show an almost immediate lift in your position in Google search rankings....

The company pushed its last update for Flash Player yesterday, and announced it will no longer support the software after December 31. It will also block Flash content from running in the player starting January 12, 2021, and recommends uninstalling the player from your computer if it’s still on there. Flash’s death knell has been ringing for years; it sounded loudly back in 2016, when Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome began blocking it across the web....

According to a report from the Financial Times, Larry Ellison’s company is in early talks to buy TikTok’s US, Canada, Australia , and New Zealand operations. The report noted that the company was already working with some of the US investors such as General Atlantic and Sequoia Capital that own a stake in TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance. [Read: Most mobile apps suck — here’s how to fix them] Earlier, Microsoft was looking to close a similar deal to Oracle with a limited number of territories involved....

WhatsApp’s payment system is based on a standard called Unified Payment Interface (UPI), defined by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). The company uses the same methods as other incumbent apps such as Google Pay, Walmart-owned PhonePe, and India’s Paytm. Initially, WhatsApp is partnering with five banks in the country to facilitate payments: “With UPI, India has created something truly special and is opening up a world of opportunities for micro and small businesses that are the backbone of the Indian economy....

The boffins behind the BigML machine learning platform made their predictions with a Deepnets model, an optimised implementation of the Deep Neural Networks supervised learning technique. They first identified the factors that were the best predictors of a winner. In the best picture category, for example, these included the film’s synopsis; its nominations for BAFTA, Critic’s Choice, Online Film TV Association, Golden Globes, and LA Film Critics Association awards; and any prizes it received at the Online Film Critics Society....

The model is now gaining traction around the world. In the UK and France, for example, citizens’ assemblies have been convened to deliberate responses to climate change. But selecting the members of these bodies is a complicated task. Ideally, citizens’ assemblies should be both representative and randomly selected. Balancing these two requirements is challenging as the volunteers tend to be unrepresentative of the whole population. A team of computer scientists from Harvard and Carnegie Mellon universities has devised a potential solution: selection algorithms....

The company today began rolling out a beta of the feature (US-only, for now) that allows up to 100 viewers to participate in synchronized playback of a TV show or movie. Playback is controlled by the host, and there’s a chat window that participants can communicate with. And because it’s 2020 and all, you can communicate in stickers too. To start a watch party, simply head on over to the content you’d like to watch; you’ll see the watch party button right on the show or movie’s title....

The company’s CEO, Tim Cook, posted a video on Twitter saying that the tech giant will ship a million face shields by the end of the week; after that, an additional one million units each week. These masks pack flat, with one box containing a hundred pieces. Cook said Apple is making these shields in the US and China, with each unit taking less than two minutes to assemble....

I’d assume you’re one of two people: you’re either fist-pumping at this news, or you’ve never used Do Not Disturb on an iPhone. To put it bluntly, this feature is a fucking mess. Do Not Disturb should be the easiest thing to get right: the feature should block everything but pre-defined contacts from getting through to you. But it doesn’t work on the iPhone. Not even close. WhatsApp in particular seems to bypass Do Not Disturb on iOS, meaning whenever I want to get away from my device, I’m still subjected to notifications....