All Activity

Mortgage subsidiary Newrez expects to begin moving borrowers onto the platform by 2027, with the deal marking its second major tech investment this year. View the full article

Get more value from your Google Ads spend by tightening fundamentals that directly lift conversion performance. The post 15 Fixes To Improve Low Conversion Rates In Google Ads appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. The corporate response to the The President administration’s immigration enforcement actions has been muted at best. After the killings of two U.S. citizens by federal law enforcement in Minneapolis, the CEOs of more than 60 Minnesota-based companies issued a carefully worded letter calling for “an immediate de-escalation of tensions.” Target’s incoming CEO Michael Fiddelke sent a video message to employees calling the events “incredibly painful.” Apple CEO Tim Cook, who was lambasted for attending a White House movie screening hours after protester Alex Pretti was shot and killed, said he was “heartbroken.” Few executives have been willing to criticize ICE’s sweeping clampdown, which has also resulted in the detention of U.S. citizens, refugees, and others legally in the country. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman came close, saying in a note to employees: “What’s happening with ICE is going too far. There is a big difference between deporting violent criminals and what’s happening now, and we need to get the distinction right.” Corporate tepidness is strategic and, according to those who work with CEOs, unlikely to change. Whether they are willing to admit it or not—see this exchange between JPMorganChase CEO Jamie Dimon and Zanny Minton Beddoes of The Economist—CEOs are afraid of retaliation by the administration and backlash from activists who may feel statements in response to current events are either too “woke” or not full-throated enough. As a result, many companies are staying on the sidelines. Fear and chaos Communications experts say CEOs will never go back to the volume of commentary or commitments companies issued in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the racial justice marches that followed. “In 2020, clients frequently asked us how best to weigh in on these kinds of issues,” says Jim O’Leary, North America CEO and global president of communications firm Weber Shandwick. “Today, there is a greater focus on assessing the risks of engaging.” Another CEO adviser I contacted, who asked to remain anonymous so he could speak freely about a topic that many deem sensitive, says corporate leaders can and should speak out on issues that impact “the overall standing and reputation of U.S. businesses,” and affect employees, customers, and shareholders. “The goal for businesses in these moments should be to talk to their stakeholders—employees, customers, investors—not to garner headlines,” he adds. “It is about corporate and leadership values, not scoring points.” Let’s be clear: The events unfolding in Minneapolis and other cities around the country are impacting businesses. “Silence isn’t neutral. It’s expensive,” says Reshma Saujani, founder and CEO of Moms First, which held a virtual call after the killing of Alex Pretti that attracted thousands of moms who discussed grassroots responses, including national strikes such as the one organized last Friday. “Letting this chaos continue is fiscal malpractice. Everyone I know is distracted. People feel scared. Workers are disappearing. Productivity is dropping. Local economies are taking a hit. You can’t run a healthy economy based on fear and chaos.” CEOs may or may not wish to speak out about the killings of Pretti and Renee Nicole Good or the clashes in the street. But executives at every level need to be willing to support civil liberties and the rule of law, which are the very underpinnings of democracy and capitalism. If more CEOs rise to meet this moment, we may see what true leadership looks like. Taking a stand Has your company responded to the ICE crackdowns, and if so, how? Send your responses to me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com, and we’ll publish excerpts in an upcoming newsletter. Read more: CEOs speak out. Or not. CEOs who shy away from defending voting rights do so at their peril E.l.f.’s Tarang Amin is doubling down on board diversity We asked Minnesota’s biggest companies about ICE View the full article

For years, conversations about paid media have revolved around one question: should companies build in-house teams or outsource to agencies? That debate makes sense, but it misses the real issue. The problem isn’t where paid media sits in the org chart. It’s how performance leadership is structured. Many companies run Google Ads and other paid channels with capable teams, solid budgets, and documented best practices. Campaigns are live. Dashboards are full. Optimizations happen on schedule. Yet: Results stall. Pipelines flatten. Budgets get questioned. Confidence in paid advertising erodes. This is rarely a talent issue. It’s usually a structural one. The plateau most in-house teams eventually hit Across dozens of B2B paid media accounts, from SaaS to service businesses spending five figures a month, we see the same pattern. Performance does not collapse overnight. It slows gradually. Campaigns keep running. Costs look stable. Leads still come in. But growth stalls. Leadership sees motion without insight. Decisions turn reactive. Paid media shifts from a growth engine to a cost center that has to defend its existence. The gap isn’t effort or execution. Over time, strategy narrows when teams work in isolation. Why ‘more headcount’ rarely fixes the problem When performance stalls, the default response is to hire. A new specialist. A channel owner. A more senior role. Extra resources can ease the workload, but headcount alone rarely fixes the real problem. In in-house teams, three challenges are consistent: 1. Tracking and leadership visibility Leadership teams often lack a clear, shared view of how paid media drives pipeline and revenue. The data exists, but it’s scattered across disconnected platforms, tools, and dashboards. Without strong integrations, even well-run campaigns operate with weak feedback loops, limiting how much they can improve. 2. Structure and skill ceiling Many teams try to follow proven best practices. The issue isn’t intent. It’s context. What works for one company or growth stage can be ineffective, or even harmful, for another. Without external benchmarks or fresh perspectives, teams struggle to see what actually applies to their business. 3. Lack of systematic testing Day-to-day execution eats up available capacity. Teams focus on keeping things stable instead of pushing performance forward. Testing starts to feel risky, even though real gains usually come from the few experiments that work. Over time, this creates the illusion of optimization: steady activity without meaningful progress. The same mistake happens before ads ever launch These structural issues don’t just affect companies already running paid media. They often show up earlier, before the first campaigns even launch. In many B2B organizations, paid advertising enters the picture when growth from outbound sales, partnerships, or organic channels starts to slow. Budgets roll out cautiously. Execution gets delegated. Results are expected to emerge from platform defaults. What’s usually missing is strategic ownership: Clear definitions of success that go beyond surface-level metrics Tracking that ties spend to pipeline, not just lead volume A testing roadmap aligned with revenue goals Without this foundation, early results disappoint. Budgets get cut. Confidence fades. Paid media gets labeled ineffective before it has a real chance to work. Ironically, this early phase is where external perspective can deliver the greatest long-term impact. It’s also when companies are least likely to seek it. The structural advantage of outsourced performance leadership Outsourcing is often framed as a way to cut costs or add execution power. In reality, its biggest advantage is perspective. External performance teams work across many accounts, industries, and growth stages. They: Spot patterns earlier. Know when platform recommendations favor spend growth over business outcomes. Question assumptions internal teams may have stopped challenging. That outside view matters most in areas like tracking architecture, platform integrations, and account structure, where partial best-practice adoption can quietly erode performance. A common scenario looks like this: Teams follow platform guidance but leave underlying martech gaps unresolved. Systems don’t talk to each other. Optimization signals weaken. Budget efficiency drops, even though campaigns appear fully compliant. When outsourcing actually works — and when it doesn’t Outsourcing isn’t a cure-all. It breaks down when companies expect external partners to fix performance in isolation, or when strategy and execution live in separate worlds. It works best as a hybrid model: Internal teams own execution and business context External experts bring strategic direction, structural resets, and ongoing challenge In this setup, partners don’t replace teams. They raise the bar. That’s why a specialized Google Ads agency creates the most value when the goal isn’t just running campaigns, but turning paid media back into a predictable, scalable growth lever. A smarter model: External strategy, internal execution High-performing organizations are increasingly separating strategy from execution volume. They bring in outside expertise not because something is broken, but because they want: Objective assessments of performance and structure. Stronger attribution and tracking foundations. Disciplined experimentation frameworks. Clear accountability at the leadership level. This approach builds momentum before budgets get cut, not after results decline. It also helps leadership understand why paid media performs the way it does, restoring confidence in the channel. What high-performing companies do differently Organizations that avoid long plateaus tend to: Treat paid media as a system, not a standalone channel. Invest early in clear tracking and strong integrations. Invite external challenge before performance slips. Accept that most tests will fail, knowing the few wins will compound. In this context, outsourcing isn’t about cost efficiency. It’s about preserving strategic sharpness as platforms and markets evolve. Final thought The in-house versus outsourced debate reduces a deeper issue: who owns performance direction, and how often it gets challenged? As paid media platforms automate and evolve, the companies that sustain growth aren’t the ones with the biggest teams. They’re the ones with the clearest perspective. View the full article

Staying focused for an entire workday can feel like a losing battle. Between constant notifications, shifting priorities, and mental fatigue, even the most disciplined professionals struggle to maintain momentum from morning to evening. To understand what actually helps people stay in the zone, we turned to experts who study attention, performance, and productivity. They shared nine practical, research-backed strategies for sustaining deep focus and getting meaningful work done throughout the day. 1. Reset With Box Breath High performers don’t usually lose discipline. They lose regulation. When your body flips into fight-or-flight, focus gets choppy and your thinking narrows. The fastest lever you control is your breath because it shifts you back into a more focused state, the zone. One technique I use to regulate is box breathing. It’s widely used by elite performers, including military and athletes, and is also recommended by medical practitioners to reduce stress and restore calm. Here’s my exact reset with box breathing. When my nervous system starts running hot, or I notice I’m rushing when I have to present, I pause for two minutes. I close my eyes and mentally put my inbox and to-dos into an imaginary jar outside my door. Then I breathe in a simple cadence: inhale four counts, hold four counts, exhale four counts, hold four counts, for four cycles. That small sequence restores presence, focus, and clarity fast, so I’m not stumbling through on adrenaline by the time I reach my audience. With self-regulation, I have full attention and get full results. I’m in the zone. It works so well that I also teach it to my clients. One CEO I coached had three back-to-back calls immediately after our session, followed by a high-stakes pitch to his board. We practiced four cycles together before he started his day. Later, he told me he used it twice. First, right before his second call, when he noticed his pace speeding up and his thoughts scattering. Two minutes of box breathing helped him slow down, speak with intention, and stay on message. The meeting ended 10 minutes early, decisions were cleaner, and the team left with concise deliverables instead of a vague “we’ll circle back.” He repeated another four cycles right before the board pitch, not as a “calm down” trick, but as a performance switch: nervous-system reset, remarkable clarity, and executive-level delivery. The result was a tighter presentation with a more confident ask, which shortened the Q&A and increased alignment in the room. The CEO told me the biggest difference wasn’t just that his message landed better, but that he felt in control of his narrative. That’s why I love this tool. It’s fast, repeatable, and portable. You can do it at your desk or in an elevator before any high-stakes conversation, mid-day, or anytime your attention scatters and your energy dips. When you box-breathe back into regulation, you trade adrenaline for authority and get back in the zone on demand. Shelley Goldstein, Leadership Development Coach and Corp Trainer, Remarkable Speaking 2. Cycle Dopamine With Structured Focus Intervals Unlike traditional productivity advice that focuses on time management or motivation hacks, I target the neurological substrate where sustained performance actually lives: your dopamine regulation cycle. What I have found working with Fortune 500 executives is this: high-performance states are not willpower; they are dopamine availability. When your prefrontal cortex has optimized dopamine, you stay in flow. When dopamine depletes, you cannot force focus. The technique that produces the most consistent results is strategic dopamine cycling through 90-minute work blocks with complete neural reset intervals. Here is how it works. Your brain can sustain peak dopamine availability for approximately 90 minutes before the prefrontal cortex starts losing executive control. Most executives push through this, not realizing they are operating on progressively degraded neurological capacity. I coached a hedge fund managing director who was working 12-hour days but losing decision quality after hour four. We implemented strict 90-minute work blocks followed by 15-minute complete disengagement: walking outside, no screens, no cognitive load. Within three weeks, he reported that his decision speed improved 40% and he was leaving the office two hours earlier while producing better work. The mechanism is straightforward: during the 15-minute reset, your brain clears dopamine metabolites and restores prefrontal capacity. This is not a break for rest; it is a neurological recalibration that makes the next 90 minutes as sharp as the first. The key insight most people miss: productivity is not about working longer; it is about protecting the neurological windows when your brain actually performs. Sydney Ceruto, Founder, MindLAB Neuroscience 3. Set Tomorrow’s Three Clear Tasks One technique I use to stay in the zone is a three-task reset at the end of each day. In my coaching practice, my to-do list is always long. If I start the day reacting to everything on it, I end up busy but not effective. To avoid that, I spend the last 30 minutes of each workday reviewing everything on my list and then narrowing it down to three small, specific tasks that will genuinely move my work forward the next day. Those three tasks go on a sticky note that becomes my only priority list the following morning. When I sit down to work, I’m not deciding what matters as I already decided that the day before. This removes decision fatigue and keeps my attention on progress rather than activity. Since adopting this approach, I start my days with clarity, stay focused longer, and avoid the trap of spinning my wheels on low-impact work. It’s simple, but it consistently keeps me operating in a high-performance zone. Brandi Oldham, Career Coach, Talent Career Coaching 4. Honor Your Energy and Pace In 2025, I wrote a book. As a first-time author, I was barraged with advice: write X number of words every day, write first thing in the morning, set a timer and write until it rings. I quickly realized that while those techniques might sustain high writing performance for others, they did not work for me. What did work was to write when I was excited to write, when I wanted to write. When my brain overflowed with ideas and insights itching to translate to fingers on keyboards. And to stop writing when my brain stopped generating, my back started aching in my chair, and my fingers cramped. My recommendation for staying “in the zone” is to identify what this zone feels like and to recognize when you enter and leave it. Make your zone real for you—and ignore everyone else’s advice for maintaining high performance throughout the day. If you’re energized early morning but need a break by 10, own it. If you rev up after lunch, terrific. If your juices flow when the sun goes down, optimize the evening. Manage your time as the gift that it is. Tina Robinson, Founder and CEO, WorkJoy 5. Design Intentional Work Windows We should abandon the myth of all-day “peak performance” and replace it with what I call “designed performance windows.” Most high achievers believe that staying “in the zone” from morning to evening is a willpower and/or discipline issue. It isn’t. It is a biological and cognitive impossibility, and treating it as a goal impacts judgment. The creative and emotional processes are also affected. I work with clients to structure their day around intentional performance cycles, rather than continuous intensity. This is how the technique works in practice. With each client, we identify three separate windows: One primary high-intensity 90–120 minute block used exclusively for work that requires analysis, synthesis, or decision-making. No meetings. No tasks reactive to external impulses are allowed, including meetings, emails, and SMSs. One secondary, lower-intensity window, used for either preparation or refinement/execution work that needs less focus. Deliberate recovery and low-stakes periods. These are not “breaks” in the motivational sense. They are important periods necessary to reset to consolidate insight. One senior executive was trying to maintain the same level of intensity across 10–12 hour days toward the end of a particularly difficult quarter. The result was predictable, with slower, more conservative decisions, and a more burdensome management of emotions. We redesigned his schedule so that: All critical analytical work happened in the protected morning window. Meetings were clustered after that window, when relational and operational skills mattered more than analytical thinking. End-of-day work was intentionally lighter and reflective. Within weeks, decision quality improved because he worked better, rather than simply more. His best thinking happened when his mental system was capable of it. This technique rests on a simple but widely resisted idea: Long-term high performance comes from respecting natural mental fluctuation, not fighting it. It is not about staying activated at all times. It is about timing effort, accepting limits, and preserving long-term capacity. Federico Malatesta, Founder & Executive Coach, FM Transformational Coaching™ 6. Block Time for Top Priorities Staying in the zone requires being realistic about what you can actually achieve in a day, particularly when you’re a high-performing senior leader. It’s common to overestimate daily capacity and then feel defeated when tasks inevitably spill over. Instead of attempting to conquer a massive to-do list, clarify the top two to three priorities that would make the day a success. Here’s the critical part: realistically estimate how long each will take and deliberately block that time on your calendar. My executive clients who consistently map their highest priorities are recognized for their ability to deliver sustained, repeatable value. And remember, two to three completed priorities per workday add up fast. That’s 10 to 15 per week, 40 to 60 per month, and 500 to 700 meaningful wins per year. Kyle Elliott, Tech Career Coach & Executive Coach, CaffeinatedKyle.com 7. Integrate Brief Meditation Sessions One technique I rely on to stay in the zone and sustain high performance throughout the day is meditation, practiced consistently and intentionally integrated into my daily rhythm rather than treated as a one-time fix. To begin, I set a clear eight-week commitment. For me, the goal is not to “clear my mind,” but to strengthen focus, emotional regulation, and self-awareness. I choose a realistic structure: 10 minutes of meditation at the start of the workday and five minutes midafternoon. Framing it as a leadership practice, not a wellness add-on, helps me to stay consistent. During a demanding eight-week stretch involving overlapping deadlines and stakeholder expectations, the afternoon meditation is essential. Instead of pushing through fatigue, I used those five minutes to reset attention. As a result, late-day meetings are more focused, communication more thoughtful, and the end-of-day fatigue that previously affected my performance is mitigated. Simone Sloan, Executive Strategist, Your Choice Coach 8. Name Triggers to Regain Control The real productivity killer is not your phone or overflowing inbox. It’s the background anxiety, the tension you can’t quite put your finger on, or the boredom that comes from being stuck on a challenging problem. In the early days of my business, I was reactive to every ping and distraction. I was hopping from one priority to the next, and it seemed like no matter how disciplined I was, the overwhelm always managed to shatter my attention span. But then I learned to treat distraction as an opportunity to pilot my attention instead of treating it as an adversary. Now, whenever I have the urge to check out from whatever I’m supposed to be doing, whether it’s writing our crisis playbook or mapping out narrative threats for one of our clients, I make it a point to first pause and write down on a physical piece of paper the internal trigger or thought that makes me want to break focus. It could be, “I’m anxious about my presentation next week,” or simply, “This work is hard and challenging.” It sounds trivial, but doing so gives me control over my itch to escape. Instead of running from it, I’m now using my internal discomfort as a launch trigger to bring me back to what I should be doing right now. Confirming and tracking your internal triggers when you want to chase distractions will give you data on what exactly causes you to want to break focus so you can do something about it. If you keep a log for a week, you’ll have enough data to uncover a pattern about your attention escapes. For me, capturing that thought in that time of itch revealed to me that the best way to manage it is to reframe and treat the discomfort as a trigger to perform on the hard, high-value task I should instead be doing versus an escape to a lower-value one. Adrienne Uthe, Founder, Kronus Communications 9. Estimate Durations to Reduce Friction Managing my cognitive load and staying “in the zone” as much as possible is essential. My biggest win is a technique I call Time-Tagging, where I assign a specific duration to every item on my to-do list. I found that when a task lacks a time estimate, my brain perceives the effort required as infinite. This ambiguity creates subconscious resistance and fear. When every task has an estimated duration, like 15 minutes, I can easily scope the project and jump in. This approach boosts the total amount of time I spend in the zone because I simply start with a task labeled 10 minutes or less. This low barrier to entry allows me to generate immediate momentum. I complete that first small win and use the dopamine hit to roll right into the next larger task. I have tracked my output on days using this method versus days I do not, and the increase in deep work is significant enough that I now do this every single day. Phil Santoro, Entrepreneur and Cofounder, Wilbur Labs View the full article

Company posts forecast-beating earnings ahead of meeting to decide Bob Iger’s successorView the full article

IEEE & Wi-Fi standards can be a mouthful but now there's help: This reference poster by Rohde & Schwarz tells you everything you need to know about the standards. The post Reference poster: The History & Future of Wi-Fi standards – download your copy here! appeared first on Wi-Fi NOW Global. View the full article

In my suburban Boston Ulta, I’m sitting with my hand in a little box. I’ve been promised that in roughly 30 minutes I’ll have nails that are shaped, buffed, and painted—not by a human, but by an AI-powered robot. It feels like an episode of The Jetsons come to life, but the truth is that the AI boom has officially entered the physical world. Most of us interact with artificial intelligence through screens—Gemini drafts our emails, ChatGPT summarizes our docs—but behind the scenes, engineers are racing to give AI hands and feet. Robots already pack boxes in warehouses and make guacamole in fast-food kitchens. Soon, they will be washing dishes, taking care of pets, and performing your manicure. Here at Ulta, the robot holding my hand was built by Boston-based startup 10Beauty. After six years of R&D and $50 million in venture funding, the company has created a machine meant to replicate the entire manicure process: polish removal, shaping, buffing, and painting. The company plans to roll the robots out to Ulta, Nordstrom, and high-end salons later this year. The manicures will be priced at $30—no tipping required. But first comes the beta test. Ulta has agreed to pilot the machines in select stores, where customers can get free manicures while 10Beauty gathers real-world data. Human nail techs stand by to fix mistakes, ensuring customers still leave with salon-worthy nails. “We’ve done more than a thousand manicures on real people already,” says Justin Effron, 10Beauty’s cofounder. “That’s how we’ll figure out exactly what works and what doesn’t. We’re cocreating this with customers.” The Benefits of Being an Early Adopter Kecia Steelman, Ulta’s CEO, says the retailer is now on a mission to weave AI into nearly every corner of the business—from experimenting with agents like ChatGPT to fine-tuning its inventory management. “None of us have figured it out,” she says. “But you’ve got to start moving in that direction and pivot as things continue to change. That’s what’s going to separate strong retailers in the future.” The robot manicures are an example of one such pivot. The 10Beauty team reached out to Ulta, whose leadership team was intrigued by the way the technology fuses AI with a service that customers are asking for. The nail salon industry is expected to hit $14 billion by the end of this year. Ulta already differentiates itself from rivals like Sephora by offering in-store beauty services, often in suburban strip malls. But rising labor costs and finding skilled nail technicians can make it challenging to meet the demand. Ulta has agreed to buy hundreds of 10Beauty’s machines when they officially launch this summer. But it has also taken the bold move of allowing 10Beauty to test the service with customers. “This pilot allows us to learn alongside [10Beauty], gathering real guest feedback, understanding how the technology performs in a retail environment, says Amiee Bayer-Thomas, Ulta’s chief retail officer. “We can shape what the future of tech-enabled beauty services could look like.” The Robot Manicurist I’m among the group of early testers. The robot works on one hand at a time—intentionally. In focus groups, 10Beauty found that users wanted to be able to continue using their phone with their other hand. I slide my left hand into the machine and try not to move as seven cameras scan my fingers, creating a precise 3D map of each nail. Then a robotic arm gets to work, tackling one finger at a time using tools far smaller and more precise than what a human would use. Instead of cotton pads, 10Beauty designed a star-shaped sponge that glides over the nail to remove polish. Instead of clippers, it uses a crystal file to shape the nail safely. And rather than cutting cuticles, it applies a softening serum and gently pushes them back with a brush. That part, I’ll admit, didn’t quite work. The brush barely touched my cuticles at all. Then came the moment of truth: painting. A thin brush applied delicate layers of polish to each nail. This is where things went sideways. Some nails had bare gaps along the edges; others overshot the mark, leaving polish on my skin. Effron wasn’t surprised. “We’re working on a software update that should fix this,” he says. “And even after launch, we’ll keep improving it based on how customers use it.” A human nail tech quickly stepped in, cleaned up the polish, and applied a top coat. From start to finish—including drying—the whole process took under 40 minutes. Eventually, Effron says, the goal is to do both hands in about 20 minutes. The Future of AI Is Physical Walking out, it was clear the robot still isn’t as good as a human manicurist—yet. But the appeal was obvious. The machines don’t depend on skilled labor, which means manicures could become cheaper, faster, and available 24/7. You could imagine them popping up in airports, hotels, coffee shops—or, one day, even your own bathroom. Ulta believes that by being an early adopter, it might be able to influence how these manicure robots evolve. “We saw this as an opportunity to bring something entirely new into the store experience,” says Bayer-Thomas. “Piloting early allows us to help shape the experience, ensure it meets our guests’ expectations, and continue delivering newness and excitement.” Effron argues that the beauty industry is full of tasks—blow-drying hair, dyeing roots, plucking brows—that could be easier with machines. The challenge, of course, is proximity to the human body. Beauty requires precision and gentleness. My manicure made that tension obvious: The robot was so careful with my cuticles that it barely touched them at all. Still, 10Beauty is betting that rapid improvements in software, sensors, and robotics will soon close that gap. If my slightly imperfect robot manicure is any indication, the future of beauty isn’t flawless yet—but it’s already here, humming quietly inside a little white box at Ulta. View the full article

Former ambassador forwarded memo from special adviser to Gordon Brown to late sex offender in 2009View the full article

SERPs keep changing to incorporate both ads and AI Overviews. Read what it means for you. View the full article

The University of California Irvine’s new healthcare campus has a long list of innovative features, from its combined inpatient-outpatient surgical suite to its outdoor chemotherapy infusion terrace to an entire floor dedicated to staff only. The one thing it doesn’t have is a gas line. The multi-building healthcare campus with 144 hospital beds officially opened in December as one of a very few major hospitals around the world that runs entirely on electricity. CO Architects, which designed the all-electric hospital alongside design-build partner Hensel Phelps, claims it’s the only hospital larger than 500,000 square feet to pull this off. “Healthcare is just about as big of an energy hog as you can get,” says Fabian Kremkus, a design principal at CO Architects. Room-sized MRI machines, medicine refrigerators, and commercial kitchens cranking out hospital food represent just a snapshot of the energy needs of a healthcare facility. At UCI Health, as the campus is known, feeding this energy demand with only electricity required nimble design. The project has been in the works since 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was putting unusual scrutiny on the ways hospitals functioned. UCI Health’s design was inevitably influenced by the pandemic, leading to an emphasis on flexibility and the ability to handle an influx of highly contagious patients should another pandemic occur. At the same time, the University of California system was plowing ahead with its own goal of achieving carbon neutrality in its buildings by 2025, which made electrification another priority. But when the building’s design was being finalized, there wasn’t enough commercially available equipment to do the entire project without fossil fuels. By the time the project went up for its construction permit, the plan still included things like a gas-powered central heating and cooling plant and a gas line feeding the hospital’s kitchens. As the project got deeper into construction, new equipment started coming onto the market, including all-electric air-source heat pumps and air chillers, as well as all-electric cooking equipment. “Since the start of the project versus a couple of years ago, there are a lot more options,” says Jill Cheng, an associate principal at CO Architects. As more and more electric options came to the table, the design-build team and the university decided to go all in on the carbon-neutral goal, aiming to create an all-electric hospital. “It required a midstream redesign of our central plant when the decision was made,” says Kremkus. “So it was very challenging, with a really aggressive construction schedule.” Now, the entire campus uses a unique central heating and cooling plant that eliminates the need for gas-based boilers, as well as the staff resources to monitor such high-pressure infrastructure around the clock. On-site photovoltaic panels help offset the hospital’s high energy needs, and the entire complex is primarily fed by California’s majority renewable electricity grid. That’s just one of many savings on this project, according to Kremkus. CO Architects analyzed the costs and benefits of taking an all-electric approach and found that even when electric equipment had higher upfront costs, they would be more than offset by energy savings over time. The annual energy cost of using natural gas, for example, would be about $650,000 cheaper than the all-electric alternative, but its annual maintenance costs would be $1.4 million more, making the choice fairly clear. The payback period for investing in the all-electric system is less than three-and-a-half years. “We’re building a 50-year facility, so there’s no question that this is economically the right thing to do,” Kremkus says. This all-electric hospital design is a replicable approach. “All of our future projects that we have in the pipeline will be all electric, and it’s largely championed by this project,” says Kremkus. “We were able to test it here, and now we can roll it out in an even better way because there are a lot of lessons learned.” View the full article

For business partners Victoria Jackson and Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, their lives are intermingled with work. As cofounders of 15-month-old bookstore Godmothers in Summerland, California, the pair have built a space that they both longed for: a bookstore perched on a magical slice of Santa Barbara County, outfitted with cozy nooks to read and gather, a cafe, and an events space for author events and workshops. Since its September 2024 opening the space has become a beacon of community, creativity and conversation––what Walsh calls “a beautiful creative cathedral” for everyone from that mom in carpool to Oprah Winfrey. “Godmothers is a great representation of coming up with an idea and seeing the building I pictured,” says Jackson, an entrepreneur best known for founding cosmetic company Victoria Jackson Cosmetics. “It’s creative visualization. I see it in pictures, and I work to create it.” Walsh, who built her career as a literary agent, says that for her the store is exactly what its website proclaims: a local shop with a global dream, the product of a partnership born of big ideas, hard work, and the circuitous process of following gut instincts. In these conversations, we talked about framing creativity in business and personal endeavors, cultivating the ability to slow down to accelerate ideas, and the value of a little fresh air. Jennifer Rudolph Walsh: I view myself as a creative person, but not in an artistic sense. I don’t paint. I don’t do morning pages. I love brainstorming sessions with people. I love hearing their ideas and adding my ideas. I love taking those ideas that come out of nowhere and imagining how they can manifest themselves in different ways. RW: I’m a morning person. I wake up at 5 a.m. with a tremendous amount of energy. I first meditate and then I read everything. I send articles to people that I think would be helpful to them. That gets the creativity going. I am full of ideas and inspiration in the morning. RW: My life post-NYC is very free form. I really resist structure in my day and that’s one of the great things about being my own person here [in California]. I’m not answering to clients. So I love the freedom of that and the creative spirit can just take me anywhere. It might be on a hike or going through the store and talking with a customer about a book they loved. But it’s very freeform and go-with-the-flow. RW: We opened the store as a bookstore and a gathering space because it’s something we ourselves craved. It’s a place to go to dive into the deep end of the ocean. We wanted to create a sense of community around that container; I think there needs to be more of that. People long to be there in person. Our shop is in a beautiful setting, which adds to the experience. It’s a place where people can be open-hearted and open-minded. Victoria Jackson: Jennifer is a critical piece in the telling of Godmothers. We are trying to align and manifest something together. She is also a big believer and a manifester in her own right. Godmothers: how the community has, in such a short time, embraced it. How we have in all the best ways put ourselves on the map, with the trust and respect—really the big warm hug we’ve gotten from the community. I was going to be focused more on the beauty of the space, making it a cozy and welcoming physical space. She is working on the actual storytelling. She does most of the hosting and interviewing. I think we both respect each other’s opinions a lot; it’s a very easy collaboration. VJ: I think there are certainly aspects where you can learn to open your mind. I think there is a certain amount of it that’s learned, but I think a bigger part of it is innate in how you see the world. Even early days in school—there are kids that are looking at the teacher and there are kids that are looking out the window. I’m a looking out the window person and I’ve been looking out the window ever since. VJ: I have the ability to build bridges and communicate whatever that thing is that I’m working on. The fact that I can sell cosmetics on TV and have my authentic passion around it, while building community and connection. Everything I’ve done in the world of medicine—I’ve needed to build a bridge. In cosmetics, it’s connecting with women and consumers based on a product and an idea I had. I think the throughline is how I tell the story. JRW: I love storytelling in all forms. I watch a ton of TV and movies. I read books. I read newspapers and magazines. Longform stories. JRW: I see entrepreneurship as intricately tied to creativity. Creativity to me is business. I don’t see them as two separate things. I never understood a personal life and a professional life I don’t really separate it from business. You can’t grow without change, and you can’t have change without creativity. JRW: My motto is try easier. If something isn’t working or when nothing is working, I do nothing. I’m not someone who is trying to force a solution. If I can’t think of three options, I’m going to keep thinking. I don’t move until I’m ready, and I’m not ready until I have at least three possibilities. I am at ease and I trust the universe. I see it through the eyes of wonder and miracle. JRW: I’m not someone who will ask 10 people what they think of my shoes. There are people like that. I don’t really have a big appetite for what other people think about what I think is cool. If I have a big idea, I move on quickly. I don’t hold tightly to anything. JRW: Everything about my life is a learned thing. No one used to try harder than me. I had to learn how to hold things lightly and go with the flow so things were always going my way. There is a magic place between making it happen and letting it happen. That’s a creative calibration. But I live there now. JRW: I spend some time in nature every single day. All of those things are both spiritual and creative practices for me. In every conversation, I try to plant a seed or receive a seed. It’s about trying to say, “What do you think of this idea?” Or, “Oh, that’s an amazing idea.” You brainstorm and add on. JRW: I live two miles up a mountain on a farm. I’m not on Twitter or Facebook. I live an intentional, slow life. I read and consume and carefully curate an intentional series of things. I’m not someone who is reacting to the world. I’m cocreating my own reality, with all of the choices I make. VJ: I can lack patience. I set very high standards for myself, and at times, for others. When they’re falling short or very short, I have a hard time being patient, especially as I’m older and have accomplished a lot. I want people to be the best version of themselves. I get a little frustrated when they’re not willing to do that. VJ: When I get stuck, I’ll go for a walk. I’ll put myself in nature. I will take a break. I will do that in meditation. You picture yourself going under the water and everything above you is stormy and waves and everything around you is quiet. Usually then, I’ll find some way. View the full article

It’s been more than half a century since astronauts last stepped onto the moon. Now, NASA’s Artemis II will return four humans to its vicinity in a 10-day lunar loop that lifts off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center as early as February 8. An Orion spacecraft will carry NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, some 230,000 miles to the far side of the moon—farther from Earth than anyone has traveled. Using a free-return trajectory enabled by lunar gravity, they will slingshot back to Earth for a splashdown off the coast of San Diego. NASA’s Artemis program, along with private and international partners, aims to return people to the moon for scientific exploration, establish a lunar economy, and ultimately pave the way for crewed missions to Mars. An initial uncrewed lunar flyby, Artemis I, provided a proof of concept in 2002. This mission adopts a more human-centric approach, evaluating Orion’s life support systems in situ and gathering additional data on how spaceflight affects the human body. It may also offer views of the moon never before seen. “I was around for Artemis I, and this one feels a lot different, putting the crew on the rocket and taking the crew around the moon,” said John Honeycutt, Artemis II mission management team chair, during a NASA press conference last month in advance of the rocket rollout to the launch pad. “This will be our first step toward sustained lunar presence on the moon.” Life in deep spaceTesting will begin almost immediately after NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket launches Orion into orbit with 8.8 million pounds of thrust, 15% more than that of Apollo’s Saturn V. Once in orbit, Orion will deploy solar arrays. Meanwhile, astronauts will conduct system checkouts and docking maneuvers in anticipation of future dockings, which could include lunar landers or the proposed lunar-orbiting Gateway Space Station. During the six-day mission, the astronauts will evaluate radiation shielding and operational, communications, and emergency systems “We want to put Orion through its paces,” said Jeff Radigan, mission flight director, flight operations directorate. The mission’s science goals include space weather measurements using four deployed international CubeSats (more easily deployable “building brick” satellites), lunar observation, and biometric responses. Astronauts will monitor their health and performance using immune system biomarkers and wearable devices that track sleep, stress, movement, and radiation exposure. Their findings may help future missions better optimize astronaut time. The star science payload, however, is AVATAR (A Virtual Astronaut Tissue Analog Response), which uses tissue chips mimicking astronaut organs and bone marrow to gauge how spaceflight affects blood cells and other systems. The mission will mark AVATAR’s first use outside the Van Allen belts, bands of high-energy radiation particles surrounding Earth. The space agency hopes to measure human responses to deep-space stress by comparing its data with International Space Station findings and Artemis crew samples collected before and after flight. “For NASA, AVATAR could lead to personalized medical kits for each astronaut or, for folks back on Earth, individualized treatments for diseases such as cancer,” said Jacob Bleacher, chief exploration scientist, exploration systems development mission directorate. The mission also plans to attract public interest by dedicating a day to observing the moon’s hidden dark side. From Orion’s farthest vantage point—4,700 miles beyond Earth’s satellite, the moon will seem the size of a basketball held at arm’s length, with our planet appearing in the distance. Pending the crew’s launch time and flight path, Bleacher added, “it’s possible they’ll see parts of the moon that have never been viewed by human eyes.” The spacecraft’s return home will occur naturally, using Earth’s and the Moon’s gravity to enter Earth orbit without propulsion or complex course corrections. Reentry from the moon into Earth’s atmosphere will be faster than from low-Earth orbit, requiring more parachutes. However, following a finding that parts of the Artemis I heat shield degraded more than expected upon reentry, Artemis II will engage a shorter entry range. While this approach is safer, it reduces the number of potential launch days. Yet even with this adjustment, retired astronaut Charles Carmarda and former NASA engineer Daniel Rasky have raised grave concerns about the heat shield’s efficacy. “If I had to rate it an A, B, C, D, or E, I’d rate it an F,” Rasky told ABC News last week. Postflight, the crew will attempt an obstacle course and a simulated spacewalk with tasks while wearing pressurized spacesuits. The exercises, which will gauge how quickly astronauts can function after a gravity transition, should help preparations for future lunar and Mars landings. Expecting the unexpectedThe Artemis infrastructure is a work in progress. “Over time, launching missions like this, we’re going to learn a lot and the vehicle architecture will change,” noted NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman during a follow-up media event with the astronauts. “And as it changes, we should be able to take repeatable, affordable missions to and from the moon. Reusability is what’s going to enable missions like Artemis 100.” As the crew engages in final preparations, including hard talks with their families about the inherent risks of spaceflight, they’ve learned to balance focus with the unexpected. “This is the first time we’ve put humans on this rocket,” said Hansen, who will become the first non-American astronaut to travel beyond low Earth orbit on a NASA mission. “We’ve done a lot of testing of these systems, but when we get to space, we’ll probably see signatures that look a little bit different from testing.” The sheer distance creates its own set of demands, even for a veteran like Koch, who set the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman at 328 days. “I really have to make sure my husband knows that it’s not like the International Space Station, where we can just make a phone call,” she said with a grin. “So, he’s not going to be able to call me and ask where something is in the house. He’s going to have to find it.” View the full article

Last week, news broke that Amazon would be laying off 16,000 workers. Here was the headline ​from an article​ about this news published in Quartz: The implication of this framing is clear: AI is taking jobs. Nothing in the body of this article contradicts this idea. It describes the number of people laid off and the benefits they’ll receive. It quotes executives who won’t deny the possibility of future job losses. It mentions how Amazon is known for its “cutthroat” corporate culture. You walk away feeling that the impact of AI on our economy is already getting out of hand. The only problem is that this reporting omits almost all relevant details. For a more realistic take, let’s turn toward the financial press. CNBC published ​an article​ about these same layoffs featuring a more informative headline: The article goes on to correctly attribute the layoffs to Amazon’s desire to trim layers of management bureaucracy that built up during the pandemic-era tech hiring boom: “CEO Andy Jassy has looked to slim down Amazon’s workforce after the company went on a hiring spree during the Covid-19 pandemic.” What role does AI play in all of this? Like many leading companies in the technology sector, Amazon is investing heavily in building its own AI products. Presumably, money is being saved by firing managers, which frees up more revenue to invest in this area. But that’s really it. As the CNBC article elaborates: “In a blog post, the company wrote that the layoffs were part of an ongoing effort to ‘strengthen our organization by reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy.’ That coincides with a push to invest heavily in artificial intelligence.” [emphasis mine] The CNBC article then reports that these massive layoffs actually began for Amazon in 2022 and 2023, following the pandemic, but before ChatGPT was released and the subsequent generative AI revolution began. Both of these articles cover the same announcement, but they produce two very different impressions. The Quartz article strongly implies that Amazon is firing people because it can now offload their work to AI. (I mean: look at the Andy Jassey quote they included in the sub-head, they clearly wanted readers to believe AI caused these job losses.) The CNBC article, by contrast, makes it clear that the connection between AI and these layoffs is more coincident than causal. In recent years, I’ve seen more articles follow the general approach demonstrated by the Quartz example. They identify an alarming,attention-catching fear about AI that seems prevalent in the cultural zeitgeist, and then shape a story to feed the narrative. The key to this vibe reporting strategy is that the articles never make explicit claims. They instead combine cunning omissions and loosely related quotes to make strong implications. The Quartz article, for example, never concretely states that the 16,000 workers are being replaced with AI; rather, it conveniently avoids mentioning any of the publicly available details about the layoffs that would contradict that idea, and then interleaves quotes about AI’s disruptive potential into the reporting in a highly suggestive manner. The goal of this type of article is to create a pre-ordained vibe, not to get to the bottom of what’s really happening. I’m not pointing out this phenomenon to dismiss concerns about AI, but instead because I think this strategy is an obstacle to real action. This type of disingenuous reporting is not going to help us identify the actual problems that require actual solutions. It instead creates a nihilistic sense of inevitable disruption that might drive social media shares, but also numbs people and prevents meaningful responses. Remember: Nothing about these tools is inevitable, and their impact is far from preordained. We don’t need vibes right now. Reality is too important. The post The Dangers of “Vibe Reporting” About AI appeared first on Cal Newport. View the full article

Last week, news broke that Amazon would be laying off 16,000 workers. Here was the headline ​from an article​ about this news published in Quartz: The implication of this framing is clear: AI is taking jobs. Nothing in the body of this article contradicts this idea. It describes the number of people laid off and the benefits they’ll receive. It quotes executives who won’t deny the possibility of future job losses. It mentions how Amazon is known for its “cutthroat” corporate culture. You walk away feeling that the impact of AI on our economy is already getting out of hand. The only problem is that this reporting omits almost all relevant details. For a more realistic take, let’s turn toward the financial press. CNBC published ​an article​ about these same layoffs featuring a more informative headline: The article goes on to correctly attribute the layoffs to Amazon’s desire to trim layers of management bureaucracy that built up during the pandemic-era tech hiring boom: “CEO Andy Jassy has looked to slim down Amazon’s workforce after the company went on a hiring spree during the Covid-19 pandemic.” What role does AI play in all of this? Like many leading companies in the technology sector, Amazon is investing heavily in building its own AI products. Presumably, money is being saved by firing managers, which frees up more revenue to invest in this area. But that’s really it. As the CNBC article elaborates: “In a blog post, the company wrote that the layoffs were part of an ongoing effort to ‘strengthen our organization by reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy.’ That coincides with a push to invest heavily in artificial intelligence.” [emphasis mine] The CNBC article then reports that these massive layoffs actually began for Amazon in 2022 and 2023, following the pandemic, but before ChatGPT was released and the subsequent generative AI revolution began. Both of these articles cover the same announcement, but they produce two very different impressions. The Quartz article strongly implies that Amazon is firing people because it can now offload their work to AI. (I mean: look at the Andy Jassey quote they included in the sub-head, they clearly wanted readers to believe AI caused these job losses.) The CNBC article, by contrast, makes it clear that the connection between AI and these layoffs is more coincident than causal. In recent years, I’ve seen more articles follow the general approach demonstrated by the Quartz example. They identify an alarming,attention-catching fear about AI that seems prevalent in the cultural zeitgeist, and then shape a story to feed the narrative. The key to this vibe reporting strategy is that the articles never make explicit claims. They instead combine cunning omissions and loosely related quotes to make strong implications. The Quartz article, for example, never concretely states that the 16,000 workers are being replaced with AI; rather, it conveniently avoids mentioning any of the publicly available details about the layoffs that would contradict that idea, and then interleaves quotes about AI’s disruptive potential into the reporting in a highly suggestive manner. The goal of this type of article is to create a pre-ordained vibe, not to get to the bottom of what’s really happening. I’m not pointing out this phenomenon to dismiss concerns about AI, but instead because I think this strategy is an obstacle to real action. This type of disingenuous reporting is not going to help us identify the actual problems that require actual solutions. It instead creates a nihilistic sense of inevitable disruption that might drive social media shares, but also numbs people and prevents meaningful responses. Remember: Nothing about these tools is inevitable, and their impact is far from preordained. We don’t need vibes right now. Reality is too important. The post The Dangers of “Vibe Reporting” About AI appeared first on Cal Newport. View the full article

IMBs outperform banks, face outsized scrutiny, and confront rising affordability challenges, according to the President of the Community Home Lenders of America. View the full article

How the message from Sierra Pacific Mortgage could have been delivered in a better, more empathetic fashion rather than leaving affected workers embittered. View the full article

Former UK ambassador to US claims he has ‘no record or recollection’ of paymentsView the full article

A new proposal suggests using semantic HTML to label sections of a page that are AI generated to support EU compliance. The post Controversial Proposal To Label Sections Of AI Generated Content appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

In 2021, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee history professor Thomas Haigh began teaching a course on the history of computers. Haigh, the coauthor of a book on the subject published around that same timenoticed that many classic histories of computing from the 1990s assumed that readers would have firsthand knowledge of technology from around that era—desktop PCs and Macs, early game consoles, and the once-ubiquitous floppy disk. But for many of his students, that equipment was obsolete before they were born. While it might make millennials grimace, Windows 95 and Nintendo 64’s GoldenEye 007 are now firmly in the purview of the history department. “With today’s undergraduates, they’re just as distanced from the days of the Apple II, or the IBM PC, or the first Mac as people [then] were from ENIAC and the very earliest computers,” Haigh says. Haigh can’t practically show his students how to use the ENIAC or the other room-sized machines from the mid-20th century. But he realized he could stock a lab with equipment from the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, letting students experience and understand what it was like to load a spreadsheet from floppy disk on an Apple IIe, boot up Windows on a Gateway PC, or play a game on a vintage Atari or Nintendo 64. “The idea isn’t to collect one of everything, and it’s also not really to collect rare and exotic things,” Haigh says. “We’re more interested in recapturing what the typical experience was of using computer systems in different eras.” Haigh believes the Retrocomputing Lab, or simply Retrolab, may be the only such lab run out of a U.S. history department. It’s one of a handful of university labs around the country that provide students and researchers with access to machines and software from before the age of ubiquitous internet and cloud computing. It’s stocked with a mix of eBay purchases, university surplus, and faculty hand-me-downs (meaning students are sometimes greeted with the names of users from decades gone by when they load vintage operating systems or floppy disks). Lab organizers say the labs help students and researchers understand how computing and communication technology has evolved, both for better and for worse—and help them use ideas from the past to understand and shape what the future of tech might be. “What I’ve noticed, especially in the last year, is that young people are just fascinated and utterly compelled by typewriters, by technology that they can see into, that they can understand how it works, that they sometimes can open up,” says Lori Emerson, founder of the Media Archaeology Lab (MAL) at the University of Colorado Boulder. “And especially the pieces of tech that we have in the lab that’s not connected to the internet, that’s not surveilling them, tracking them, collecting data. “ It’s something that emulation, which can make it possible to use vintage software and games on modern equipment, doesn’t fully capture. Emerson founded the lab in 2009 while working as a professor in the English department and teaching students about a digital poetry project called First Screening, released on floppy disk in the 1980s by the celebrated Canadian poet bpNichol. Emerson wanted to show students how the poems would have been seen on the computers of their day. The lab she set up for that purpose continued to expand, ultimately growing into a sprawling collection that’s now available for use by students, visiting researchers, and curious members of the public. “I think that was pretty much the beginning of the end for me as an English professor,” says Emerson, now a professor in the media studies department. “And then I just couldn’t stop collecting old pieces of technology, and I couldn’t stop convincing people to give me their things.” Even with commercial software, the tactile experience of using particular keyboards, mice, and disks, and the entire concept of unpacking disks and manuals from a store-bought box, just can’t be simulated. “One of the things that surprises students is that software used to come in a box full of manuals and stuff,” Haigh says. “They just think of software as this purely immaterial thing that downloads.” Emma Culver, a Ph.D. student in UW-Milwaukee’s media, cinema, and digital studies program, says she discovered installing and playing The 7th Guest—a 1993 DOS horror adventure that helped pioneer the use of the CD-ROM for full-motion video and inspired a generation of game designers—was far from smooth, experiencing firsthand the trial-and-error frustrations of PC gaming in that era. “And it’s much more satisfying once you actually sit down to play it after you’ve been through all that effort to set it up,” she says. But though today’s students will likely play a role in the next steps in technology’s evolution, it’s not clear whether they’ll be able to show future generations the technology they currently use. That’s because over the past decade or so, software has become dependent on connections to cloud servers, AI models, or online gaming infrastructure can’t easily be archived in fully operational form. “In the future, once systems aren’t there to activate copies and download patches and so on, none of this stuff is still going to be accessible unless enthusiasts do a huge amount of work to replicate parts of that system,” Haigh says. But for now, universities are working to share and preserve what they can of the digital past. At Georgia Tech, a similar retroTECH program run out of the university library similarly helps archive and share with students vintage technology from the slide rule to millennial favorites like The Oregon Trail and early Mario Kart offerings. Games for historic consoles are a big focus, especially since they were released as static products rather than updated and patched over time like PC games, says digital accessioning archivist Dillon Henry. Students are sometimes “intrigued by” how quickly cartridge-based games could load compared to today’s releases, and the games are often accompanied by print gaming media of the day, so students can see how they were advertised and promoted in outlets like Nintendo Power. The library has hosted informal gaming nights, but it’s also seen plenty of use by students in classes looking at everything from interactive narrative storytelling to game design. Engineering students also learn to fix the vintage machines. “It’s a win-win, because you can’t go to an Apple Store today and ask them to fix your Apple II,” Henry says. They’re also inspiring students to make their own creations. One student brought classmates from a game design class to the lab to study elements of Final Fantasy IX9 (released for the original PlayStation in 2000), Henry recalls, and visitors are also often intrigued by the evolution of video game interfaces and forgotten elements of the industry’s history. The collection includes technology like the Virtual Boy, a famously odd Nintendo VR system from the mid-1990s, and the Fairchild Channel F, which introduced the concept of removable cartridges and featured a unique, joystick-like controller. “Now controllers are getting more or less standardized,” Henry says. “It was kind of a Wild West there at the beginning of the gaming world, when people were just trying stuff that hadn’t been done.” The retroTECH program’s vintage material isn’t all computer-based. The library has an Edison wax cylinder phonograph from 1902 and a set of blank cylinders, and Henry hopes in the future to work on recording projects based around the medium, perhaps in conjunction with the university’s celebrated music technology program. Historic technology is also a creative medium at CU Boulder. The Media Archaeology Lab has hosted a residency series that’s attracted artists creating work with the equipment, and seen musicians perform using vintage music software and computerized keyboards on site. The lab has also recently begun acquiring typewriters and other historic printing and copying equipment, and Emerson and lab managing director Libi Rose Striegl plan to offer zine-making workshops in the near future. Students weary of AI and cloud computing have generally been showing an interest in technology from before the age of the always-on internet, Emerson says. “A theme that’s been coming up recently is that they say, ‘I feel like my mental health would be a lot better if I used these machines,’” she says. “And we laugh, but we’re also like, ‘yeah, it probably would be.’” View the full article

The era of the empowered worker is behind us, at least for now. The last year has seen a stark reversal of the dynamics that were at play in the aftermath of the pandemic, when employers were scrambling to hold onto their workers. Companies couldn’t seem to cut jobs fast enough in 2025, as over a million layoffs swept across tech giants and other major employers. Hiring came to a standstill as the corporate world grappled with political headwinds and economic anxieties. Employers have gone all in on artificial intelligence, in the hopes that it will make their workers infinitely more productive. “We are entering a new phase that is much more employer-centric in terms of who holds the keys,” says Lars Schmidt, the founder of HR consultancy Amplify and the vice president of talent acquisition and innovation at superfruit startup Fruitist. “With all the volatility of the job market, the displacement of jobs from AI and automation, and the economic uncertainty causing some companies to dial back—I think that the power is very much in the employer’s hands again, and kind of at the detriment of employees.” In this climate, the role of human resources has grown ever more complicated—and crucial, as they seek to keep employees motivated and manage burnout alongside mounting demands from their employers. Here’s what HR leaders are focused on and expect to see in the year to come. AI: ‘We’re making it up as we go’ As workplaces invest in generative AI, many HR leaders are being tasked with not only using those tools to streamline their own operations, but also to help companies figure out how to deploy the technology effectively across their organization. Schmidt argues it’s an opportunity for people in HR to step up and help shape how their company approaches AI. “Like any emerging technology with the promise of automation and less headcount and more profit, there’s going to be pressure to use that,” he says. “It’s just as important to have a clear point of view of where not to use AI than where to use AI, and you can’t be a strategic adviser to your C suite peers if you are not informed yourself.” Melanie Naranjo, the head of people at HR compliance training startup Ethena, believes companies are now reevaluating their AI investments, after throwing money at expensive AI tools or unsuccessfully attempting to automate jobs. Many HR teams are also thinking about how to encourage employees to get adequately trained on AI without making it an onerous burden: “How do you keep a workforce trained on the latest and greatest in AI adoption, when AI is constantly changing?” she says. “How do you structure that? What does that fall under? How do you hold people accountable? Is there space to do it in a strategic way that doesn’t burn everyone out?” Another challenge for some HR leaders is how to determine compensation and pay packages for valuable AI talent, or potential hires who are well versed in AI—something that many of them are figuring out in real time, amid economic uncertainty. “It’s really worth as much as you’re willing to pay for it at this point,” Naranjo says. “I imagine over time this will even out, because the long-term expectation will likely be that everyone has some level of AI expertise within their field. But right now we’re all just asking each other and making it up as we go, candidly.” Focus on retention over hiring Amid a hiring slowdown and a tricky job market that favors employers, many workers are staying put—otherwise known as job hugging, in recent parlance—rather than looking for new opportunities. For companies, this presents its own challenge. “A lot of employees are hesitant to make a move right now, given all the volatility and uncertainty,” Schmidt says. “So they are kind of growing roots, which creates some tension. The natural attrition of an organization—through both voluntary and involuntary turnover—creates a bit of a steady flow of talent in and out of the organization.” Workers also face new pressures as their employers expect them to both embrace AI and use it to boost their productivity. Companies, in turn, may see a dip in morale and find that employees are checked out—which means HR leaders need to figure out how to incentivize them. “Even in the midst of this being an employer market, I think smart employers are going to start thinking a little bit more about retention,” says Naranjo. “The reality is your top performers are always going to be able to find work, regardless of the market. And then everyone else? Even though they’re not leaving in droves because of the market, productivity and morale is going to start to shift.” In the past, the answer might have been to give employees a generous raise. Now, Naranjo says, many HR leaders are trying to figure out how to reward them in a “low-cost, low-lift way.” Beyond looking at compensation, one way companies could address this is by expanding benefits. While benefits are not nearly as much of a focus as they were during the Great Resignation—when companies were clamoring to retain employees—they remain a competitive advantage for many organizations, particularly around fertility and caregiving. Mita Mallick, a workplace strategist and former DEI executive, argues that companies have an opportunity to differentiate themselves—and retain top performers—by investing in unique benefits. Mallick points to platforms like Multiply Mortgage, which helps employees get a mortgage and discounted rate. “With some of these benefits, you might be like, well, it’s niche utilization,” Mallick says. “Cost utilization is low, but then those individuals become your company advocates.” Housing-related benefits are also an example of employers essentially providing social services that would not otherwise be covered. Mallick cites paid leave, which has repeatedly faced pushback as a federal policy. “When government fails, and there [are] gaps in the infrastructure, companies are stepping up,” she adds. Investing in DEI . . . quietly Back in 2020, the racial reckoning in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder led many companies to make bold promises about diversity, equity, and inclusion. Some of them pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to bolster these commitments—but in the years since, the appetite for DEI has radically changed. After the Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action in 2023, corporate America slowly backed away from DEI work, particularly as right wing agitators like Robby Starbuck ramped up public pressure on companies. And over the last year in particular, the The President administration has set its sights on DEI programs across both the federal government and private sector, even threatening to investigate corporate employers who engage in “illegal” DEI work. All this has seemingly set the stage for a public retreat from DEI, as many employers fear legal action and being targeted by the The President administration. Across the federal workforce, DEI offices were shut down, and many DEI professionals in the corporate world lost their jobs as the work fell out of fashion. Companies eliminated representation goals and pulled out of external rankings that measure workplace inclusion. But while employers have, in fact, slashed DEI programs, a number of them are merely rebranding it as “belonging”—or doing the work behind closed doors. For certain companies, this shift is more about revising the language of DEI, which has been weaponized by conservatives: “When you look at the fundamentals of why DEI is important, that didn’t change,” Schmidt says. “What [has] changed is how people are twisting the definition for political purposes.” As DEI teams have shrunk—or have been dismantled altogether—some of this work has fallen to employee resource groups or is now within the purview of HR. But on the whole, many of the companies that have publicly pulled back on their investments in DEI were never particularly committed. “There are people quietly doing the work,” Mallick says. “And there are people who never wanted to do the work. It was performative. It checked the box—and now they have permission to say they don’t need to do it.” Navigating a new political climate A few years ago, many HR leaders felt compelled to speak out about politics and current events. But the tides have turned, as many CEOs and other executives have largely avoided weighing in on political issues since The President assumed office again. “There was a lot of pressure on HR leaders to take a stance on every event that took place,” Schmidt says. “Now we’re obviously in a very different environment… You’re seeing very few companies speaking out in this current environment for fear of retribution.” For some folks in HR, this has been a bit of a welcome correction; for others, it’s an adjustment after years of being more vocal. At the moment, against the backdrop of an immigration crackdown that has claimed the lives of two civilians in Minnesota, some HR leaders have felt like they need to acknowledge what’s happening around them. “What I’m sensing in one-off conversations with HR professionals is: ‘I kind of want to say something, but I don’t know how it will be received, and I don’t know if it’s the right time,’” Naranjo says. While a handful of tech workers and leaders have finally commented on the violence in Minnesota, most of them have remained relatively silent. An open letter from the CEOs of Minnesota-based companies like Target and Best Buy called for “an immediate deescalation of tensions” but stopped short of any pointed condemnations. “You’re seeing very few business leaders stepping into the moment and making a statement,” Schmidt says. “CEOs understandably don’t want to put a target on their company.” This reticence leaves HR leaders in a tough spot, if they feel a responsibility to speak out or their employees are demanding it. But Naranjo says companies should recognize there can be a cost to not acknowledging the political moment. “From an HR perspective, that’s not actually a distraction,” she says. “Your employees are already distracted. So if you’re being really strategic about this, and your employees are struggling, you can actually help them focus and be more productive by addressing it correctly.” View the full article

The best recruiter I know is going to spend the next three months hiring without posting to a single job board website, like Indeed or LinkedIn. “LinkedIn?” She laughed. “You mean Facebook for thought leaders? No, I won’t be using any of those sites.” “Rosa” is head of HR for a large tech startup, and someone I trust to tell me what’s really going on in the world of professional recruiting and jobs — the unflinching truth. The last time we talked, she had finally taken back control of her company’s recruiting process, rescuing it from over-automation, misguided AI, and what she called “results-last” hiring. I’ve hired hundreds of people to work with me over my long career. And I’ve partnered with some great recruiters and some not-so-great recruiters along the way. I can tell you she has a point about LinkedIn, but it’s not just LinkedIn. Rosa wants to sidestep “the whole damn hiring system,” even down to how her company views hiring and talent. “We were treating people like fuel when they’re actually critical machine parts,” she said. “Once you understand that, you realize the whole damn hiring system is broken, and the path becomes clear. Not easy, but at least clear.” Her latest experiment, over the next three months, with her executive team behind her: Hire without LinkedIn and the rest of the job boards. The Digital Job Funnel Is Not Going to Be Fixed Anytime Soon On the other side of the country, a CTO friend of mine spent his holiday break clearing a backlog of support tickets. Why? Because a bunch of folks quit, and when he tried to replace them, the modern automated hiring systems his company was using kept throwing up roadblocks. “Wasn’t that what all of this automation was supposed to do?” he asked me. “Find me people quickly?” He lost three support people the week before Christmas and figured he could get by with two. After getting “vague answers” from his HR team, the last day before everything shut down for the holidays, he went full White Goodman and took the bull by the horns. “I got into the system myself, thought I’d be a hero, and I spent hours going through stacks of applications just trying to filter out the bots, or the résumés that weren’t even close to what I needed. I wondered if I should just write some code to filter [the applications] myself, but I was running out of time and [support] tickets were piling up. I gave up and said I’d just handle the tickets on my own over the holidays.” After a holly jolly Jira holiday, he had an epiphany. “This never should have happened,” he said. “We’re going to take a hard look at why we have all this hiring technology.” It’s Always the Quiet Ones In my last column, I speculated that we’re reaching a bottom in the job market, especially in tech, where a sense of capitulation has leaders in the recruiting industry advising tech employees to become “baristas, bartenders, and builders.” Yeah, that’s the right amount of capitulation. I mentioned in that column that, out of the dozen or so SMB tech startup leaders I’ve talked to while going down this particular hiring rabbit hole, not one of them is using a major hiring channel to fill their talent needs. In their view, the LinkedIns, the Indeeds, basically all the job boards, have devolved into an automated slippery slope that, in their eyes, produces no signal, just noise. A lot of noise. “We’re Hiring,” Just Without the Purple Sash So these companies are opting out. They’re posting jobs on their own websites, or sometimes not, and using their current employees’ and investors’ networks of networks to find channels. They’re going through traditional but smaller recruiters, trade associations, user groups, colleges for entry-level positions, even niche online communities like Reddit and Hacker News. They’re going through me, not to hire me, but asking if I know anyone who knows anyone who would be perfect for the role, like they used to before LinkedIn ate all of hiring — which is right before LinkedIn decided there was more money in letting ambitious professionals post AI-written opinions on everything. Oh, sorry, before you ask me who these companies are, I’d love to tell you, and I am telling people whom I think they might find a perfect fit, but if I splash their names here it defeats the purpose of what they’re trying to do. They’re “tightening the aperture,” as one put it, which sounds uncomfortable, but is really just a way of saying they want 100 targeted résumés for an open position and not 10,000 résumés that are mostly people who didn’t read the job requirements plus bots. Crazy, right? But oddly enough, with the sheer volume of talent already on the sidelines, they’re filling these roles much more quickly than they did using LinkedIn, Indeed, and such. So, no, I can’t out them, but I can tell you this. Based on how Rosa and her low-tech colleagues are hiring, here’s my best advice for joining this worldwide loose hiring network. Turn Your Friends Into Recruiters Good old-fashioned networking is back in vogue. And this isn’t just about blasting an email asking everyone you know if they know anyone who knows anyone who is hiring. You want to build an army, a group of folks who will work for you. “Be specific about what you can do and what you want,” Rosa told me. “A personal, concise message is best. Your friends are already willing to help you, they just need to know how they — specifically — can do that. It’ll be different for everyone.” Take Time to Do Deeper Company Research Smart companies are, like Rosa said, looking for “critical machine parts,” not fuel. They need talent, not labor. They want results, not butts in seats. Your best shot is going to be finding a company that can use you, right away, to get the results they need. Use AI to find these companies that are sidestepping these channels, instead of using AI to turn your résumé into one more needle in an ever growing haystack. Then, instead of sending an application to 50 companies if you might be a fit for five, find 50 companies where you would be valuable and hope that five of them are hiring, whether they have a job posted for you or not. Look for Positive Proof That the Job They Have Is for You When you do find a job that looks right, dig a little. Is it real? Is it what it says it is? Are you going to be dumped into an applicant pool with thousands of other candidates? Then dig a little deeper. Read the job description with some skepticism. Is it generic? Is it a carbon copy of all the others you’ve seen? Are they hiring just because they have fresh money? Is it more about joining a club than getting results? On that last one: “Companies will do that when they have a lot of problems but they don’t know what they need,” said Rosa. “Instead of a finely tuned job description, they’ll spend a lot of time on values and goals and what they believe. They’re hiring fans, not talent.” And finally, focus on companies that move quickly. The truth is there is still a huge supply of available talent out there, thus there’s no need for a hiring company to wait for the right fit. If there’s no urgency, the company might be just testing the waters or, again, not really sure of what they need. Neither of those aspects works in your favor. Don’t Fall For False Progress These are desperate times in the job market. I know there will be counterarguments to these strategies, probably led by “Well, that’s nice advice, but I need a job now.” Here’s the thing. “Job now” is more about luck than reach. Scanning or spamming job board websites might feel like progress, but we’ve gone so far down the digital black hole of hiring that a lot of the companies that are hiring now, quickly, and for the right reasons, are bypassing those job boards entirely. I’m not talking about “Easy Apply” and I’m not suggesting these strategies will speed the process. I’m talking about adding a growing channel that isn’t getting attention because it doesn’t want the attention. They’re not going to find you. You’ll need to find them. I can also speculate that these companies won’t stay in the shadows for long. The success of this loose network will get noticed, and it will get centralized, maybe not with AI, but it won’t be long before Rosa and all the recruiters like her are up to their eyeballs in tens of thousands of applications again. So now is a good time to go job “hunting” instead of job “scrolling.” Now is also a good time to join my email list, a growing rebel alliance of professionals who want a different perspective on tech and business. —Joe Procopio This article originally appeared on Fast Company’s sister publication, Inc. Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy. View the full article

A variety show that’s still revered for its absurdist, slapstick humor debuted 50 years ago. It starred an irreverent band of characters made of foam and fleece. Long after “The Muppet Show”‘s original 120-episode run ended in 1981, the legend and legacy of Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo and other creations concocted by puppeteer and TV producer Jim Henson have kept on growing. Thanks to the Muppets’ film franchise and the wonders of YouTube, the wacky gang is still delighting, and expanding, its fan base. As a scholar of popular culture, I believe that the Muppets’ reign, which began in the 1950s, has helped shape global culture, including educational television. Along the way, the puppets and the people who bring them to life have earned billions in revenue. Johnny Carson interviews Muppet creator Jim Henson, Kermit and other Muppets on the ‘Tonight Show’ in 1975, ahead of one of an early ‘The Muppet Show’ pilot. Kermit’s origin story Muppets, a portmanteau of marionette and puppet, first appeared on TV in the Washington, D.C., region in 1955, when Henson created a short sketch show called “Sam and Friends” with his future wife, Jane Nebel. Their motley cast of puppets, including a lizardlike character named Kermit, sang parody songs and performed comedy sketches. Henson’s creations were soon popping up in segments on other TV shows, including “Today” and late-night programs. Rowlf the Dog appeared in Canadian dog food commercials before joining “The Jimmy Dean Show” as the host’s sidekick. After that show ended, Rowlf and Dean performed on the “Ed Sullivan Show,” where Kermit had occasionally appeared since 1961. Rowlf the Dog and Jimmy Dean reprise their schtick on the ‘Ed Sullivan Show’ in 1967. From ‘Sesame Street’ to ‘SNL’ As Rowlf and Kermit made the rounds on variety shows, journalist Joan Ganz Cooney and psychologist Lloyd Morrisett were creating a new educational program. They invited Henson to provide a Muppet ensemble for the show. Henson waived his performance fee to maintain rights over the characters who became the most famous residents of “Sesame Street.” The likes of Oscar the Grouch, Cookie Monster and Big Bird were joined by Kermit who, by the time the show premiered in 1969, was identified as a frog. When “Sesame Street” became a hit, Henson worried that his Muppets would be typecast as children’s entertainment. Another groundbreaking show, aimed at young adults, offered him a chance to avoid that. “Saturday Night Live’s” debut on NBC in 1975 – when the show was called “Saturday Night” – included a segment called “The Land of Gorch,” in which Henson’s grotesque creatures drank, smoked and cracked crass jokes. “The Land of Gorch” segments ended after “Saturday Night Live’s” first season. ‘Saturday Night Live’s’ first season included ‘Land of Gorch’ sketches that starred creatures Jim Henson made to entertain grown-ups. Miss Piggy gets her closeup “The Muppet Show” was years in the making. ABC eventually aired two TV specials in 1974 and 1975 that were meant to be pilots for a U.S.-produced “Muppet Show.” After no American network picked up his quirky series, Henson partnered with British entertainment entrepreneur Lew Grade to produce a series for ATV, a British network, that featured Kermit and other Muppets. The new ensemble included Fozzie Bear, Animal and Miss Piggy – Muppets originally performed by frequent Henson collaborator Frank Oz. “The Muppet Show” parodied variety shows on which Henson had appeared. Connections he’d made along the way paid off: Many celebrities he met on those shows’ sets would guest star on “The Muppet Show,” including everyone from Rita Moreno and Lena Horne to Joan Baez and Johnny Cash. “The Muppet Show,” which was staged and shot at a studio near London, debuted on Sept. 5, 1976, in the U.K, before airing in syndication in the United States on stations like New York’s WCBS. As the show’s opening and closing theme songs changed over time, they retained a Vaudeville vibe despite the house band’s preference for rock and jazz. The Muppets hit the big screen “The Muppet Show” was a hit, amassing a global audience of over 200 million. It won many awards, including a Primetime Emmy for outstanding comedy-variety or music series – for which it beat “Saturday Night Live” – in 1978. While his TV show was on the air, Henson worked on the franchise’s first film, “The Muppet Movie.” The road film, released in 1979, was another hit: It earned more than US$76 million at the box office. “The Muppet Movie” garnered two Academy Award nominations for its music, including best song for “Rainbow Connection.” It won a Grammy for best album for children. The next two films, “The Great Muppet Caper,” which premiered in 1981, and “The Muppets Take Manhattan,” released in 1984, also garnered Oscar nominations for their music. As ‘The Muppet Movie’ opens, Statler and Waldorf tell a security guard of their heckling plans. ‘Fraggle Rock’ and the Disney deal The cast of “The Muppet Show” and the three films took a break from Hollywood while Henson focused on “Fraggle Rock,” a TV show for kids that aired from 1983-1987 on HBO. Like Henson’s other productions, “Fraggle Rock” featured absurdist humor – but its puppets aren’t considered part of the standard Muppets gang. This co-production between Henson, Canadian Broadcast Corporation and British producers was aimed at international markets. The quickly conglomerating media industry led Henson to consider corporate partnerships to assist with his goal of further expanding the Muppet media universe. In August 1989, he negotiated a deal with Michael Eisner of Disney who announced at Disney-MGM Studios an agreement in principle to acquire The Muppets, with Henson maintaining ownership of the “Sesame Street” characters. The announcement also included plans to open Muppet-themed attractions at Disney parks. But less than a year later, on May 16, 1990, Henson died from a rare and serious bacterial infection. He was 53. At the end of ‘Fraggle Rock’s’ run, its characters look for new gigs. Of Muppets and mergers Henson’s death led to the Disney deal’s collapse. But the company did license The Muppets to Disney, which co-produced “The Muppet Christmas Carol” in 1992 and “Muppet Treasure Island” in 1996 with Jim Henson Productions, which was then run by Jim’s son, Brian Henson. In 2000, the Henson family sold the Muppet properties to German media company EM.TV & Merchandising AG for $680 million. That company ran into financial trouble soon after, then sold the Sesame Street characters to Sesame Workshop for $180 million in late 2000. The Jim Henson Company bought back the remaining Muppet properties for $84 million in 2003. In 2004, Disney finally acquired The Muppets and most of the media library associated with the characters. Disney continued to produce Muppet content, including “The Muppet’s Wizard of Oz” in 2005. Its biggest success came with the 2011 film “The Muppets,” which earned over $165 million at the box office and won the Oscar for best original song “Man or Muppet.” “Muppets Most Wanted,” released in 2014, earned another $80 million worldwide, bringing total global box office receipts to over $458 million across eight theatrical Muppets movies. The ‘Muppet Show’ goes on The Muppets continue to expand their fandom across generations and genres by performing at live concerts and appearing in several series and films. Through these many hits and occasional bombs, and the Jim Henson Company’s personnel changes, the Muppets have adapted to changes in technology and tastes, making it possible for them to remain relevant to new generations. That cast of characters made of felt and foam continue to entertain fans of all ages. Although many people remain nostalgic over “The Muppet Show,” two prior efforts to reboot the show proved short-lived. But when Disney airs its “The Muppet Show” anniversary special on Feb. 4, 2026, maybe more people will get hooked as Disney looks to reboot the series ‘The Muppet Show’ will be back – for at least one episode – on Feb. 4, 2026. Jared Bahir Browsh, Assistant Teaching Professor of Critical Sports Studies, University of Colorado Boulder This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. View the full article

Let me just put it out there: There has never been a better time to become a LinkedIn creator, even if you’re starting completely from scratch. LinkedIn has over a billion users, but only a small portion of those are actively creating. That means less competition for attention on the LinkedIn feed — and as a result, plenty of opportunity to increase your followers on LinkedIn. I can personally attest to the power of focusing your creative efforts on LinkedIn. I've been posting consistently on LinkedIn for about six years now, and it's helped me grow to over 22K followers — which has opened up some incredible opportunities. Increasing my LinkedIn following has helped me build credibility and get opportunities to work with some incredible companies and people. So, if you have always dreamed of being a creator or influencer, or you’re looking to build a LinkedIn presence in the hope of fast-tracking your career, you're in the right place. In this article, I'll share what I've learned about growing a LinkedIn following and making it work harder for your social strategy. Jump to a section: Optimize your LinkedIn profile Create content that resonates with your audience Engage and network with your connections Use LinkedIn features to boost your growth Increase your LinkedIn followers, starting today FAQ on how to increase LinkedIn followers More LinkedIn resources My teammate Kirsti shares her guide for new creators Optimize your LinkedIn profileBefore you start posting, you'll want to optimize your profile — it's how you show up on LinkedIn and helps the right people find you. According to LinkedIn, profiles with complete information get 30% more weekly views. Here are some tips to help you make the most of your LinkedIn profile: 1. Craft a compelling headlineYour LinkedIn headline is your digital business card and prime real estate. Try not to make it just a generic job title. Instead: Share your value: Don't just list a job title; explain the problem you solve.Use keywords: Include terms your target audience searches for.2. Write a helpful and detailed profile summaryYour profile summary is where you can share more about your experiences, expertise, and interests. It's also a space to share your personal or business vision. Use it to tell the story of your career journey and why someone should follow you or engage with your content. You can also add a call-to-action here. 3. Make it easy to follow youYou want a Follow button on your profile and in your posts, so switch your primary profile action to Follow. Even though LinkedIn removed the old creator mode toggle, you can still change your profile's primary button from Connect to Follow. 💡Pro tip: Add a LinkedIn button to your website, blog, or newsletter, and pop your profile link into your email signature or other social bios.4. Use LinkedIn's Featured sectionLinkedIn's Featured section is a space to showcase your most popular and engaging content. This could include articles, videos, presentations, or any other content that highlights your expertise and value. It's the first thing people see after your headline, so make it count. ⚡Pro tip: Your LinkedIn profile isn't a set-it-and-forget-it thing. Regularly update your profile with new experiences, skills, and achievements, and engage with relevant content and connections to continue building your network. 📍For more advice on optimizing your LinkedIn profile, check out this article with 30+ LinkedIn profile tips.Create content that resonates with your audienceCreating engaging content on LinkedIn is a powerful – and pretty much the only – way to establish your authority and grow your network and follower count. The reason your LinkedIn feed keeps you engaged is that it only recommends the people you’re likely to engage with, thanks to the ever-present algorithm. Here are some strategies to help you create follower-friendly content on LinkedIn: 1. Know your audienceGetting to know your audience is where everything starts — what are they interested in? What challenges are they facing? What are their interests, concerns, and goals? Which of these things can you speak to on LinkedIn? This information will guide you in creating content that resonates with them. 2. Choose a handful of topics or themes you can talk about with authorityThe LinkedIn algorithm tends to show your content to people who engage with similar topics and creators, which is why being clear about your niche helps the right people find you. If you’re stuck, a helpful thought exercise could be to imagine you are being invited on a podcast. What have you been invited to talk about? 3. Come up with engaging content hooksThe hook is the first thing your audience sees, so make it count. Your hooks need to grab attention — make people want to click 'see more' and, ideally, hit that Follow button while they're at it. 🚀Buffer helps you stay consistent on LinkedIn. With posttemplates, an AI Assistant, and a beautiful calendar to help you plan and schedule your content. Get it for free →4. Post consistently Showing up regularly on LinkedIn makes a real difference. Our in-depth analysis found that posting two to five times weekly on LinkedIn is the sweet spot for improving reach and engagement without overwhelming your schedule. We analyzed over one million posts and found that between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays is the sweet spot for posting. ⏰We've done the number crunching for you. Learn more about how to optimize the timing of your LinkedIn posts. If you need a little help staying on track, Buffer really is a game-changer. Not only will it help you write and schedule your content, but there's also a handy streak tracker — I find it genuinely motivating! You can use all these features completely for free, too. Get started here. 5. Use various content typesLinkedIn supports various content types, each with its own benefits. These include text-only posts, single-image posts, multi-image posts, native videos, PDF carousels, articles, and newsletters. Experiment with these different formats to see whWe've done the number crunching for you. Learn more about how to optimize the timing of your LinkedIn posts. at resonates most with your audience. The type of content you post matters – our research found that carousel posts perform marginally better than any other format. 6. Share content with real-world valueYour content should provide value to your audience. This could be educational content, industry insights, professional milestones, or thought leadership pieces. Your audience shouldn’t have to leave LinkedIn to get the full story either – incorporate zero-click content into your strategy. 7. Promote your profile off-platformShare your LinkedIn URL in your email signature, add a Follow button to your website, and mention your profile on other social channels. Those gentle nudges can funnel new, highly-interested followers straight to your feed. 8. Keep an eye on your analyticsYour analytics are essentially market research, telling you exactly what your audience wants. Analytics informed much of my experiment publishing AI content on LinkedIn for a week. At least once a week, check your analytics for these metrics: Which posts got the most engagement? What topics were you talking about? What formats were the posts?Which posts got the most impressions? What was the hook? Who did your posts reach? Which content reached the kind of people you actually want to connect with?Which post netted you a notable bump in followers?Let your audience tell you what they want, then give them more of it. Engage and network with your connectionsIf you want to build real relationships and get noticed on LinkedIn, you need to engage and network — it's how you build trust and credibility in your space. Here are some strategies to boost your engagement and networking efforts on the platform: 1. Start conversations with your audienceEngagement works both ways. When you make your LinkedIn posts, set aside time to respond to comments and messages. This shows that you value your audience's input and encourages further engagement, which can increase the visibility of your posts. Our research found that replying to comments on LinkedIn boosts engagement by 30%. 2. Connect with industry influencersIdentify and connect with influencers in your field. Engage with their content thoughtfully and frequently to increase their awareness of you and potentially lead to collaborations or endorsements down the line. Then, consider sending connection requests with personalized messages to build a rapport. That personal touch makes a difference — people are way more likely to accept (and actually engage with you) when your message feels genuine. 3. Collaborate with other creatorsCollaboration can be a powerful tool for growth. Partner with other creators on content projects, webinars, or live discussions. 4. Follow with intentionCurate your feed by following people and companies in your niche. A focused feed helps the algorithm surface relevant conversations, making it easier for you to chime in and get noticed by the right audience. Use LinkedIn features to boost your growthLinkedIn has some built-in features that can really help you grow your following and boost engagement. Here's how you can make the most of these tools: 1. LinkedIn Live and eventsTake advantage of LinkedIn Live and events to engage with your audience in real time. Live videos often see higher engagement rates than pre-recorded ones. Hosting events can also position you as a thought leader and help you connect with followers through more interactive and personal experiences. For example, creator Jayde I Powell hosts live "Creator Tea Talks" like this one, where she invited her audience to ask her anything. 2. NewslettersLinkedIn's newsletter feature lets you publish regular content that your followers can subscribe to. This is an excellent way to stay top of mind with your audience and provide consistent value through in-depth articles and updates. It can also help with discoverability by improving your SEO – search engines frequently pick up long-form LinkedIn articles. 3. LinkedIn PollsCreate polls to engage with your audience and gather insights. Polls can be a great way to start conversations and learn more about your followers' preferences and opinions. Increase your LinkedIn followers, starting todayLike any social platform, what works on LinkedIn is different for everyone. These strategies are a great starting point, but you'll want to experiment and see what clicks with your audience. As you post content and continue to grow your LinkedIn presence, remember that every connection you make and every conversation you engage in brings you one step closer to your goals. And here's an insider secret: You don't need millions of followers to make this worth it. You don't need to be the world's foremost expert. You just need to show up, share what you're learning, and build genuine connections. Using a social media management tool like Buffer can help you do exactly that. Try it for free. FAQ on how to increase LinkedIn followersHow can I increase my LinkedIn followers organically?The most effective organic way to increase LinkedIn followers is to optimize your profile first, then post consistently about a clear set of topics your audience actually cares about. How often should I post on LinkedIn to gain followers?Posting two to five times per week is the sweet spot. It’s enough to stay visible in the feed without burning out. 💡Pro tip: Consistency matters far more than posting every day.Does optimizing my LinkedIn profile help you get more followers?Yes. LinkedIn profiles with complete information receive about 30% more weekly views. A strong headline, helpful summary, and a clear Follow button make it easier for the right people to find and follow you. What type of content increases LinkedIn followers fastest?Content that educates, shares experience, or offers a fresh perspective tends to perform best. Posts with strong hooks, practical takeaways, and relatable lessons are more likely to earn engagement and new followers. Is it better to post about one niche or many topics on LinkedIn?Focusing on a clear niche helps LinkedIn show your content to the right audience. When your topics are consistent, you’re more likely to attract followers who stick around and engage with your posts. Does replying to comments help you gain LinkedIn followers?Yes. Responding to comments can boost engagement by around 30%, which increases post visibility. More visibility means more profile visits and more chances for people to follow you. Do LinkedIn newsletters help grow your followers?They do. Newsletters make it easier to publish long-form content consistently and give people a reason to subscribe. They can also improve discoverability, as LinkedIn articles often appear in search results. Should I use different content formats on LinkedIn?Yes. Mixing text posts, carousels, videos, and polls keeps your content fresh and helps you learn what resonates most. Carousel posts perform slightly better on average, but variety is key. Is LinkedIn still good for growing followers in 2026?Absolutely. While LinkedIn has over a billion users, only a small percentage actively create content. That means less competition and more opportunity for new creators to grow. Do you need a large following for LinkedIn to be worth it?No. You don’t need millions of followers or a big job title. Showing up consistently, sharing what you’re learning, and building genuine connections can create real opportunities — especially when supported by tools like Buffer that help you stay consistent and learn from your analytics. More LinkedIn resourcesLinkedIn Marketing in 2026: The Complete Guide for Businesses and CreatorsReplying to Your Comments on LinkedIn Boosts Engagement by 30%I Started Over on LinkedIn After Deleting 7,000 Followers — and Grew Faster Than BeforeHow to Make Your LinkedIn Profile Stand Out: 30+ TipsI Reached 20,000 Followers on LinkedIn and I Feel Weird About ItView the full article

Google's new documentation shows how to get traffic from their Top Stories search feature. The post Google Shows How To Get More Traffic From Top Stories Feature appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article