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Imagine you’re an academic researcher. You’re writing a pitch for funding to the National Science Foundation (NSF), the independent agency of the federal government that funds projects designed to advance our understanding of the world. But you can’t use the words excluded, historically, socioeconomic, systemic, or women. Go. That’s the quandary that researchers across the country find themselves in thanks to a misguided attempt to try to eliminate what President Donald Trump and lackey Elon Musk would likely describe as “woke” research. The Trump administration’s drive to tamp down studies that promote an agenda pushing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) involves hitting small nails with very big, very blunt hammers, with all ongoing and future research projects reportedly being analyzed to see whether they contain any number of newly forbidden words. ­ Among them are terms that Trump and others might dislike, such as diversity, inequities, or multicultural. But there are also words that almost certainly get caught in the dragnet inadvertently, including women and historically. “The mood is pretty glum here,” says one academic, granted anonymity because of a fear of reprisals. “While my work has implications for DEI, it’s not explicitly DEI in writing. For academics who do work in this space, it’s a death knell.” “It really seems like a huge mess,” says a second academic researcher, also granted anonymity to be able to speak over fear of reprisals or their research being targeted as a result of speaking out. “The list is long and vague enough that all kinds of research will potentially be harmed. Everything from biomedical research to engineering to research in the social sciences.” That researcher says they believe the guidelines have been drawn vaguely “by design, not an accident,” in order to give the government—through the NSF—enough leeway to block anything they want to. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the world’s largest technical professional organization for tech research in academia, declined to comment for this story. “ACM supports technology research in a wide array of areas and understands that priorities for funding of research can shift for a variety of reasons,” Jody Westby, vice chair of the Association for Computing Machinery’s US Technology Policy Committee, wrote in a statement to Fast Company. “ACM hopes, when this happens, that funding from other sources also shifts to fill gaps so needed research can continue.” Researchers will still likely pursue their work under the current administration, even if the NSF’s list of forbidden words stymies them. It just means they may have to take a page out of the book of online content creators, and understand how to deploy algospeak—or the rephrasing of words in order to avoid blocks put in place by online platforms, most commonly found on social media. “There have been many examples of researchers using different terms to try to get their work funded by different organizations, particularly private philanthropic foundations which often have an only slightly hidden political or ideological alignment,” the anonymous researcher says. Euphemistically referring to subjects that might otherwise be seen as sensitive using a crude check of content in order to evade censorship could well be a path that researchers have to follow, fears Carolina Are, a researcher at the Center for Digital Citizens at Northumbria University. Are has studied platform censorship and how rank-and-file users avoid its clutches. “With the broligarchs in power greatly affecting and influencing the way the U.S. is run, bolstered by Trump’s politics, [what content creators had to do] is being broadened out to research.” It’s possible to use doublespeak or euphemism to dance around contentious phrasing, Are explains—but it does significantly impact the ability to disseminate that content, and finding work-arounds taxes thinking that could otherwise be put to the broader problem that needs addressing. Are also worries that researchers will end up in a cat-and-mouse game with the NSF in the same way that creators are, where terms and words that are being used euphemistically are added to block lists and the effect is nullified, meaning people have to find new ways of subverting barriers. “It’s not a long-term solution for people,” she says. One of the researchers Fast Company spoke to is more pessimistic than that. “I’m not sure we’re going to see people successfully using different terms for the banned research terms because when you can’t even use words like female or systemic, there’s not really a way to get around that,” they say. “All biomedical research that looks at more than men is potentially out of bounds, and that’s by design.” View the full article

This week, skincare brand Kiehl’s debuted a hairy new font, Starbucks continued to roll out its feel-good nostalgia marketing, and an iconic ’80s soda was revived for the year 2025. Here’s all the branding news we’re keeping up with. [Image: Kiehl’s] Kiehl’s gets in on the custom type craze The news: The skincare brand Kiehl’s just unveiled a new custom font made from an unexpected material: pubic hair. Big picture: The font comes as a response to the backlash that Kiehl’s received in August for an ad campaign for a new product line targeting ingrown pubic hairs. Those initial ads featured fully covered models with just a glimpse of hair peeking out from the sides of their underwear. But several stores censored or removed the campaign after public criticism. “We were taken aback,” Steven Waldberg, SVP of brand engagement and communications for Kiehl’s, told MediaPost. “It’s not like we were showing people’s genitalia or anything.” Now Kiehl’s is hitting back at the haters with a fuzzy custom font made entirely out of pubic hair. The new print ads, which have taken humans out of the equation altogether, feature sarcastic statements like, “Apologies, we won’t ever show pubic hair again,” and “Our photos of models with pubic hair were censored so we removed the models.” Why it matters: We’ve seen plenty of custom brand fonts lately—from the “Other Hand font” for Cheetos to Kellogg’s logo-centric font—but we have to hand it to Kiehl’s, this one might be the most outside-the-box yet. It’s not exactly a versatile typeface, but it’s nice to see Kiehl’s refusing to back down from a challenge. [Illustration: FC] Back-to-basics strategy at Starbucks The news: Starbucks is making a wide-sweeping effort to return to its branding roots, and it seems to be paying off. Big picture: Since CEO Brian Niccols joined the company last September, the brand has been slowly working to incorporate the “personal touches” that were once its signature, like handwritten names on to-go cups, a free milk station, and an overall focus on craft. The back-to-basics concept at Starbucks has been gradually appearing in a larger campaign this year, with several new ads highlighting the coffee-making process and out-of-home billboards featuring a handwritten look. In an interview with the podcast Rapid Response, Niccols said of the changes, “We’re in the customer service business, and anybody that’s been involved with that knows the details do matter. And the reason why the details really matter for Starbucks is, frankly, those details are our point of difference. It’s how we get to another level of connection.” Why it matters: The market seems to be responding positively to the changes so far, considering that Starbucks recently beat Wall Street’s fourth-quarter earnings expectations with $9.4 billion in revenue. The irony in all of this feel-good messaging is that Starbucks has recently taken the much-criticized step of barring noncustomers from using its restrooms, seating, and patio space. In a column for Fast Company, writer Rob Walker argued that the new code of conduct “is really just a de facto admission of what its brand is really about: The coffee giant is not really in the community space business at all. It’s a luxury brand, and it has been all along.” [Photo: Suja Life] Soda’s new lease on life The news: For the second time in two months, an iconic soda of the 1980s is getting a new lease on life with a revival designed to attract a new era of soda drinkers. Big picture: Slice soda, first launched in 1984 by PepsiCo, is set to return to shelves under the ownership of juice brand Suja Life. To tap into the wellness movement and functional beverage craze, today’s Slice will have low sugar, no high-fructose corn syrup, and plenty of gut-healthy prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics in a variety of flavors, including orange, lemon lime, classic cola, grapefruit spritz, grape, and strawberry. Why it matters: Slice’s return is part of a larger industry trend. Just last month, energy drink company Redcon1 announced it would be bringing back the infamous Jolt Cola from the ’80s with a new functional twist. However, as Fast Company noted at the time, the new branding is pretty lackluster. Slice, on the other hand, looks just as cool as it did back in 1984. Suja Life has clearly based its new look on the OG design (rather than the clunkier ’90s version), including a typeface that’s literally sliced at the bottom, fruity icons dotting each “i,” and a diagonal label. The design has also been updated for the 21st century with brighter can colors and a trendier secondary font. While Slice certainly looks pretty, its staying power is questionable at best. The brand has already been revived several times, including as a failed sparkling water in 2018, swiftly followed by a failed low-cal soda in 2021. It remains to be seen whether Slice’s new branding aesthetic will be enough to keep it afloat this go-round. [Photo: Kellanova] Snacking goes cold The news: Eggos and Rice Krispies Treats are getting a frosty glow-up. Big picture: The snack company Kellanova is partnering with Gold West Food Group to turn some of its most popular brands into ice cream treats. On the Eggo side, fans can expect pints of Buttery Maple, Chocolatey Chip, and Blueberry ice cream, as well as waffle sandwiches of those three flavors. For Rice Krispies fanatics, there will be a pint of “original flavor” ice cream (we can only assume this tastes like the treats themselves), as well as original, strawberry, and triple-chocolate ice cream sandwiches made with Rice Krispies Treats as the sandwich “bun.” Why it matters: Kellanova’s new dessert play comes after a major shake-up in the company’s ownership. Back in August, Kellanova—which also owns Kellogg’s (and its three subcompanies), Pop-Tarts, Pringles, and more—was acquired for a whopping $39.5 billion by Mars, owner of M&Ms. At the time, Andrew Clarke, global president of Mars Snacking, told Fast Company that expanding the company’s snacking portfolio would be a major priority post-acquisition—and it looks like that starts in the freezer aisle. View the full article

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Pedro Rios’s paternal grandparents were both born in the United States, yet the government forced them to move to Mexico in the 1930s. They were teenagers at the time. Rios, the director of the American Friends Service Committee’s U.S.-Mexico Border Program, guesses that government officials sent his grandparents on trains to the border, but he doesn’t know the story. Neither of them talked about the experience. He said his grandmother seemed to be unable to forgive the part of herself that led her to be expelled from her home country. “She despised being Mexican to some extent,” Rios said. “I think it was because of the discrimination that she lived through.” Over its history, the United States has repeatedly worked to exclude and remove people in moments when xenophobic, nativist, and white supremacist voices have swayed public opinion toward fear—from the exclusion of Chinese immigrants, to the forced removals of Mexicans and Mexican Americans, to the relocation and incarceration of Japanese and Japanese Americans. The result of those efforts was often generational trauma, with elders unable to talk about what they went through, as in the case of Rios family. Now, with promises of mass deportation from the Trump administration, many academics see that history poised to repeat itself. Roberto D. Hernández, a professor of Chicano and Chicana studies at San Diego State University, said the racialization of Mexican and Mexican American people during deportation efforts of the 1930s and 1950s is similar to the messaging from white supremacist groups today. He pointed to a letter that circulated in Oregon in December calling for white residents to identify and report people they suspect of being undocumented, as part of a coming “brown round-up” under President Donald Trump. He said it contained the same messages of anti-Mexican racism that buoyed the movement in the ’30s. With reports of Border Patrol agents carrying out mass arrests in Bakersfield, California, even before the inauguration, fear has grown in immigrant communities. In the days since Trump took office, an increase in immigration arrests is further stoking that anxiety. “This kind of fear has long-term generational consequences,” said Kevin Johnson, a professor of law and Chicano studies at the University of California Davis. Rios has witnessed that firsthand. “It’s unfortunate that the politics take precedence over people’s lives and the destruction that separation and forcefully removing people from their homes causes to family,” Rios said. Rooted in Racism From their earliest appearances, the U.S.’s laws, policies, and practices that limited certain nationalities’ ability to come or to stay were tinged with racist concerns about nonwhite men marrying white women and with fears that immigrants would take jobs away from people born in the United States. In the 1800s, Western states, including California, passed laws limiting Chinese and other Asian nationalities from entering their territories, owning land, and marrying white women. In 1879, California’s new constitution enabled state officials to remove immigrants who they deemed to be “detrimental to the well-being of the state.” Johnson said vigilante groups also took it upon themselves to scare Chinese residents into leaving. In the 1870s, many Chinese workers lived in Truckee, California, where they helped tunnel through mountains to complete the Transcontinental Railroad. One night in 1876, a group of white vigilantes went to the homes of some Chinese workers in that town and set them on fire. As the cabins burned, the vigilantes shot the people who fled, killing one. The vigilantes were tried for murder and acquitted by an all white jury, Johnson said. The group later received a cannon salute in celebration, and one of the members went on to become the town’s constable. The incident became known as the “Trout Creek Outrage.” “Now there’s basically no Chinese presence in the town of Truckee,” Johnson said. In May of 1882, Congress codified these fears into law by passing the Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned Chinese people from immigrating to the United States for 10 years. Officials built a prison on Angel Island in San Francisco to detain arriving Chinese immigrants. The ban was later extended, and as immigration laws evolved in the United States, lawmakers continued to find ways to keep most Asian nationalities out until a major change in immigration law in 1965. “It’s been often forgotten in California that our citizens as well as our government as well as the federal government engaged in these horrible acts,” Johnson said. Mass Deportations With the onset of the Great Depression, state and local officials blamed Mexican immigrants, who had previously been welcomed during the labor shortages of World War I, said Hernández, the San Diego State University professor. Back then, Hernández said, the anti-immigrant rhetoric was purely economic. He said that’s different from the Trump administration’s tactics, which have used criminalization in addition to economic complaints to vilify immigrants. Though the federal government will lead deportation efforts under the Trump administration, the plans include deputizing local law enforcement to assist and pulling in military or National Guard for support. Hernández and Johnson both worry that these plans hearken back to practices in the 1930s and 1950s that saw U.S. citizens deported alongside immigrants. In the 1930s, local authorities, including police, rounded up people believed to be Mexican and sent them south. Most were taken away on trains and ships, Hernández said. “I remember the big cattle boats coming down from Los Angeles, shipping Mexicans back to Mexico,” Herb Ibarra, then principal of San Diego High School, told The San Diego Union newspaper in 1979. “My mother knew that a relative of ours was on one of the boats, so she took me with her to San Diego Harbor. I won’t ever forget the boats, the humanity packed onto the decks under armed guard.” The state and local officials leading the effort didn’t put deportees through a formal process, Johnson said. “There were no hearings. There was no due process,” Johnson said. “A lot of [U.S.] citizens were removed as well as immigrants.” Some chose to self-deport, he said, including the family of former California Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso, who was born in Orange County. Johnson said he worries that the fear inspired by Trump’s rhetoric will similarly push families to leave on their own. In 1954, the federal government under the guidance of then-President Dwight Eisenhower led a second push to remove Mexicans through an effort that included a racial epithet in its name. This time, Johnson said, the deportations ran more like a military operation, with the National Guard providing some logistical support. During that time, many ended up in Mexicali, where they resettled as farmers, according to Jose Mena, who lives there and coordinates a coalition of migrant shelters. The fear and trauma left behind in the community that remained in the United States were profound. Former state Senator Martha Escutia told a story during her time in office about her father, who was afraid to walk to the corner store without his passport because he lived in Los Angeles during the 1930s and had a darker complexion that could have led police to racially profile him as an immigrant, Johnson recalled. Johnson’s own mother, who is Mexican American, told him when he was young that his family was Spanish, even though they went to visit his grandmother in Mexico, he said. “It had a lasting impact on the Latino community in Southern California in terms of sense of belonging and identity,” Johnson said. Forced Moves Many Japanese Americans know that generational trauma well. During World War II, the U.S. government rounded them up and held them in hastily constructed prison camps. Trump has indicated that he might invoke the same law, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, as part of his mass deportation plans, and that he will similarly construct facilities to hold people during the removal process. Much as Rios’s grandparents didn’t talk about their sudden forced moves to Mexico, Erin Tsurumoto Grassi, associate director of Alliance San Diego, an advocacy group for inclusive democracy, said her grandparents didn’t say much about their time in U.S. government custody as Japanese American children. Her grandfather turned 12 the day then-President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which led to the relocation and incarceration of more than 120,000 people, including children. Her grandmother was 7 at the time. “They remember the dust. They remember a ton of dust,” Tsurumoto Grassi said. Dana Ogo Shew, a board member of Amache Alliance, which works to preserve and educate about the history of the Granada Relocation Center, also known as Amache, in Colorado, said that anti-Asian sentiment had been festering long before the Japanese military bombed Pearl Harbor. That hatred included organized leagues that tried for decades to get rid of Japanese people. That, she said, made it easier for the federal government to forcibly remove Japanese people from communities. After the executive order, the military worked with various civilian agencies to identify and move people. In the process, the government created the War Relocation Authority to lead the charge. Tsurumoto Grassi said the removals caused a repeated fracturing of the community. First, the government sent families to assembly centers. Her grandmother’s family, she said, was held in a horse stall. Then, they went to long-term holding areas that had been quickly constructed, most in areas with extreme temperatures. Each time they moved, friendships and families were split apart, Tsurumoto Grassi said. The removals also had economic repercussions, Shew said. Some families quickly sold off what they owned before they left, often at prices far below market value. Those who owned property often lost it because they were unable to pay the mortgage. Others had their belongings stolen while they were imprisoned. “The amount of loss in terms of dollars, they’ve never been able to put a number on it because it would be so hard and so high to calculate,” Shew said. Collectively, Shew said, the Japanese American community struggled to overcome the emotional toll in the years after they were allowed to return. “They had so much fear and shame and felt like they had done something wrong,” Shew said. “They were afraid it would happen again, so they didn’t talk about it.” Not Going Quietly The descendants of those held in the prison camps are doing the work now to try to heal the generational trauma, Tsurumoto Grassi said. Though long dormant, the Alien Enemies Act is still on the books. Other immigration laws have changed, adding procedural requirements before someone can be deported, but it’s not clear whether the changes will be enough to prevent a repeat of the past. Many anticipate that whatever the Trump administration does will end up in legal battles. “It’s how the courts are going to interpret [the laws] in this context,” said Adam Isacson of the human rights advocacy organization Washington Office on Latin America. In 1944, the Supreme Court decided in the case of Fred Korematsu, a Japanese American man represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, that there was military necessity to the forced removals. In 1983, a legal team got the case reopened, and a district court judge overturned Korematsu’s conviction for violating a military order, but the Supreme Court ruling remains precedent. Descendants of those harmed by U.S. policies of exclusion and forced removal hope that the country can learn from the pattern of misleading and discriminatory information making way for policies that uproot families and cause generational trauma. “Let’s just not make the same mistakes and get caught up in the same kind of hysteria. I mean, literally, it’s hysteria,” Shew said. She said Japanese Americans have stood by other groups in moments of discrimination and marginalization, and that she expects them to do the same this time. Tsurumoto Grassi said that if the government does return to the tactics of the last century, she’s prepared to fight. She learned about what happened to her grandparents after attending a talk in college that brought her to tears. Her search to understand her family’s history led her to the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. While there, she could hear a pro-immigrant protest outside, she said. She realized then that she was meant to work in social justice. “We’ve learned the lessons of what happened, and I don’t think we’re going to let people go quietly into the night anymore,” Tsurumoto Grassi said. —By Kate Morrissey, Capital & Main This piece was originally published by Capital & Main, which reports from California on economic, political, and social issues. View the full article

Google Translate and other translation software can be valuable tools when a user needs to quickly translate a word or phrase from one language to another. It’s not always as accurate as human translators, however, and mismatched language pairs can result in some hilarious misunderstandings. Sometimes, this technical error is merely a humorous mistake for an individual user; however, at other times, a translator fails can result in a confusing situation in a commercial context. Language translation can often be complex, and even the most advanced translation devices can produce significant errors. READ MORE: 10 Best Language Translator Devices for Small Business Travelers Best Ever Translator Fails Machine translation isn’t perfect, and even Google makes mistakes. In some cases, these translator fails turned into such hilarious errors we’ve found ourselves grateful for Google Translate’s imperfections. That’s One Way to Keep People Out Somehow, we don’t think the original message was a warning of death in progress, but the resulting translation failure on this sign is certainly effective at preventing unwanted entry. Killing Two Birds with One Stone, Perhaps? Accurate translations are important in the business world. After all, should some unsuspecting customers take this translator fail too seriously, it could result in a dangerous situation. No Meal Is Complete Without Mountains of Rape It can be a tricky process to translate one language to another. Unfortunately, menu translation fails are all too common, leaving diners to wonder exactly what it is they are ordering, such as in the translator fail above. Who Wants to Watch ‘War Salvage Destroyer Future?’ Movie titles apparently are subject to becoming lost in translation. In this translator failure example, a traveler was left to ponder whether they should watch “War Salvage Destroyer Future” or “Was Godzilla.” That Pesky Goat Won’t Stop Raining Excessive translator fails often, leaving users confused about the intended meaning of the original text. In this example, it’s clear that there isn’t actually a goat in the budget, and even if there were, we seriously doubt he is raining badly! The Devil’s in That Wine! The introduction of Google Lens’ translation capabilities opens the door for all sorts of new translator fails. Want to read a label in a different language? No problem! No problem that is, until the tool creates a hilarious translator fail like this one! Just Ask Google Cannibal Sometimes, a translator’s failure can be downright creepy, leaving a user to wonder just who is behind the responses from Google Translate. In this example, one Twitter user shared their disturbing translation that promises to taste the young. Is Cow Dung a Delicacy? Menus are often the victim of a Google Translate fail. In this example, machine translation somehow determined that cow dung would be an appropriate ingredient for a dish made with shark and beef. We wonder if the users ever found the correct ingredients or if they become another victim of Google Translate fails. Funniest Google Translate Fails There are so many funny Google Translate fails that it can make it hard to ever trust Google Translate. Fortunately, many Google Translate fails are fairly harmless, and the only harm done is a few chuckles and maybe a roll of the eyes. And apparently, any language is subject to misinterpretation. Even in Canada Google Translate can make humorous mistakes translating from one English dialect to another. Thou Hast Some Strange Taste in Teas Google considers it perfectly acceptable to mix a bit of fireman into your matcha latte. This Google Translate failure also believes it can accurately translate Finnish words into Shakespearean English. Hast thou never tasted steamed fireman? Want a Little Cat In Your Dumpling? Why do so many Google Translate fail to want to insert cats into Asian menus? Somehow, we don’t think this curious diner was expecting a side of a feline with their shrimp entree. Was it a Google Translate fail or a mysterious dum sum ingredient? Don’t Ignore the Mermaids It’s easy to understand how someone learning a new language might make some of these mistakes, but we aren’t sure how Google Translate has so much trouble translating from Spanish to English. When translated, did this warning really advise to list to the mermaid… or could there be another word that means the same as “sirens.?? When You Have to Translate the Translation At times, translations are so inadequate that users of Google Translate are left puzzled about the intended meaning of a sentence. No matter which languages Google users are attempting to translate, language mistakes like this one are often amusing enough to prevent them from becoming a lasting frustration. At Least Google’s Heart Was in the Right Place In this example of a translator failure by Google Translate, the software recognized that it was translating a holiday greeting, but it miscalculated the date. Should we overlook this mistake by Google? After all, isn’t it the thought that matters across all languages? But Can We Fault Google Translate for Trying? In yet another hilarious example of a Google Translate failure, the AI decided to suggest translating a DNA sequence. We have to commend Google for attempting to decipher what was never intended to be a sentence, and we’re sure the user got a good laugh from the suggestion in this hilarious example. Who Knew the English Alphabet Was So Interesting? What occurs when you use the internet to translate the English alphabet from Chinese back to English? You receive more than just a handful of random words. Instead, Google interprets the characters as referring to grooming a goose. One must question the context that was applied to generate this translation. Season Your Meal with Child Poison In which language are the salt ingredients printed that Google Lens translates to indicate it’s poisoned with children? Sorry, Google, your technology still needs improvement, but thanks for the laugh in this instance of a translator failure! Image: Envato Elements This article, "You Won’t Believe Some of These Epic Translator Fails" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Google Translate and other translation software can be valuable tools when a user needs to quickly translate a word or phrase from one language to another. It’s not always as accurate as human translators, however, and mismatched language pairs can result in some hilarious misunderstandings. Sometimes, this technical error is merely a humorous mistake for an individual user; however, at other times, a translator fails can result in a confusing situation in a commercial context. Language translation can often be complex, and even the most advanced translation devices can produce significant errors. READ MORE: 10 Best Language Translator Devices for Small Business Travelers Best Ever Translator Fails Machine translation isn’t perfect, and even Google makes mistakes. In some cases, these translator fails turned into such hilarious errors we’ve found ourselves grateful for Google Translate’s imperfections. That’s One Way to Keep People Out Somehow, we don’t think the original message was a warning of death in progress, but the resulting translation failure on this sign is certainly effective at preventing unwanted entry. Killing Two Birds with One Stone, Perhaps? Accurate translations are important in the business world. After all, should some unsuspecting customers take this translator fail too seriously, it could result in a dangerous situation. No Meal Is Complete Without Mountains of Rape It can be a tricky process to translate one language to another. Unfortunately, menu translation fails are all too common, leaving diners to wonder exactly what it is they are ordering, such as in the translator fail above. Who Wants to Watch ‘War Salvage Destroyer Future?’ Movie titles apparently are subject to becoming lost in translation. In this translator failure example, a traveler was left to ponder whether they should watch “War Salvage Destroyer Future” or “Was Godzilla.” That Pesky Goat Won’t Stop Raining Excessive translator fails often, leaving users confused about the intended meaning of the original text. In this example, it’s clear that there isn’t actually a goat in the budget, and even if there were, we seriously doubt he is raining badly! The Devil’s in That Wine! The introduction of Google Lens’ translation capabilities opens the door for all sorts of new translator fails. Want to read a label in a different language? No problem! No problem that is, until the tool creates a hilarious translator fail like this one! Just Ask Google Cannibal Sometimes, a translator’s failure can be downright creepy, leaving a user to wonder just who is behind the responses from Google Translate. In this example, one Twitter user shared their disturbing translation that promises to taste the young. Is Cow Dung a Delicacy? Menus are often the victim of a Google Translate fail. In this example, machine translation somehow determined that cow dung would be an appropriate ingredient for a dish made with shark and beef. We wonder if the users ever found the correct ingredients or if they become another victim of Google Translate fails. Funniest Google Translate Fails There are so many funny Google Translate fails that it can make it hard to ever trust Google Translate. Fortunately, many Google Translate fails are fairly harmless, and the only harm done is a few chuckles and maybe a roll of the eyes. And apparently, any language is subject to misinterpretation. Even in Canada Google Translate can make humorous mistakes translating from one English dialect to another. Thou Hast Some Strange Taste in Teas Google considers it perfectly acceptable to mix a bit of fireman into your matcha latte. This Google Translate failure also believes it can accurately translate Finnish words into Shakespearean English. Hast thou never tasted steamed fireman? Want a Little Cat In Your Dumpling? Why do so many Google Translate fail to want to insert cats into Asian menus? Somehow, we don’t think this curious diner was expecting a side of a feline with their shrimp entree. Was it a Google Translate fail or a mysterious dum sum ingredient? Don’t Ignore the Mermaids It’s easy to understand how someone learning a new language might make some of these mistakes, but we aren’t sure how Google Translate has so much trouble translating from Spanish to English. When translated, did this warning really advise to list to the mermaid… or could there be another word that means the same as “sirens.?? When You Have to Translate the Translation At times, translations are so inadequate that users of Google Translate are left puzzled about the intended meaning of a sentence. No matter which languages Google users are attempting to translate, language mistakes like this one are often amusing enough to prevent them from becoming a lasting frustration. At Least Google’s Heart Was in the Right Place In this example of a translator failure by Google Translate, the software recognized that it was translating a holiday greeting, but it miscalculated the date. Should we overlook this mistake by Google? After all, isn’t it the thought that matters across all languages? But Can We Fault Google Translate for Trying? In yet another hilarious example of a Google Translate failure, the AI decided to suggest translating a DNA sequence. We have to commend Google for attempting to decipher what was never intended to be a sentence, and we’re sure the user got a good laugh from the suggestion in this hilarious example. Who Knew the English Alphabet Was So Interesting? What occurs when you use the internet to translate the English alphabet from Chinese back to English? You receive more than just a handful of random words. Instead, Google interprets the characters as referring to grooming a goose. One must question the context that was applied to generate this translation. Season Your Meal with Child Poison In which language are the salt ingredients printed that Google Lens translates to indicate it’s poisoned with children? Sorry, Google, your technology still needs improvement, but thanks for the laugh in this instance of a translator failure! Image: Envato Elements This article, "You Won’t Believe Some of These Epic Translator Fails" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says negotiations with US president ‘neither wise, nor prudent, nor dignified’View the full article

You can learn many things from TikTok, like how to make a dense bean salad or how to tell if you have “good facial harmony.” Now, you can also enroll in college-level courses with TikTok as your classroom. Welcome to HillmanTok University. With Donald Trump busy rolling back DEI initiatives across higher education, dozens of creators are taking matters into their own hands and posting video courses to form a free educational community, with lessons varying from herbalism to gardening to history. Only a week old, HillmanTok is a growing movement with over 400 courses already on offer, all accessible for free. Named after the fictional university from late 1980s to early 1990s sitcom A Different World, the collection of courses are meant to provide an educational experience akin to attending a HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities). The idea for HillmanTok came to Cierra Hinton, a sixth grade teacher in Georgia, when she stumbled across a TikTok video by Leah Barlow, a liberal studies professor at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. The video was solely intended for the 35 students enrolled in her Intro to African American Studies class. However, it quickly went viral, gaining an audience of over 4.3 million. “Not me scrolling into a lecture hall,” one user commented. “We have homework due tomorrow!?! Lawd let me catch up and read my syllabus,” another added. Inspired by Barlow, other Black professors and educators began sharing their own educational materials on TikTok and Hinton had the idea to pull all of these course offerings under the umbrella “HillmanTok.” If Barlow’s class doesn’t strike your interest, how about a class in Black economics? Or organic chemistry? Lectures on any of these subjects are delivered in TikTok-length bursts, and in longer sessions over TikTok Live, with an audience of about 16,000 registered users on the HillmanTok official website. As well as courses, the website features a school store that sells T-shirts and issues student IDs. The school song, as voted for by participants, is Kendrick Lamar’s “tv off” and their mascot, a black panther. School colors are yellow and maroon in a nod to the original Hillman’s University of A Different World. Due to the unwieldy nature of TikTok, it’s been difficult for Hinton to regulate, with some bad faith actors using the HillmanTok hashtag as a way to monetize their own content and sell merchandise and ebooks. Late last month, the original page to Hillman was hacked and there were outside attempts to have the name trademarked. Despite these bumps in the road, the mission for HillmanTok University remains the same: to provide free education for anyone who wants it. View the full article

Firms that price for time rather than value hold themselves back. Gear Up for Growth With Jean Caragher Go PRO for members-only access to more Jean Marie Caragher. View the full article

Firms that price for time rather than value hold themselves back. Gear Up for Growth With Jean Caragher Go PRO for members-only access to more Jean Marie Caragher. View the full article

January growth much stronger than expected, says HalifaxView the full article

Aprecomm is once again forging key strategic partnerships to rapidly expand its business. The post Wi-Fi QoE-provider Aprecomm expands global AI service footprint with Hitron & Edgecore partnership deals appeared first on Wi-Fi NOW Global. View the full article

Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Alphabet forecast more than $300bn in capital expenditure despite investor concerns about returns and DeepSeekView the full article

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager. It’s four answers to four questions. Here we go… 1. I’m supposed to live with my boss and her husband for months I have been working at my company for two years, and I get along well with my boss, who is a woman in her early thirties. Her husband also works for the same startup and we are all on a work trip together for a few months in a foreign country. The company is providing community housing (with private beds and bathrooms) for commuting workers that holds about 10 people, and a few two-bedroom condos. Before we arrived, my boss, her husband, my coworker, and I were under the impression that we would be the four people filling the two condos — me and my coworker in one, my boss and her husband in the other. When my coworker arrived, she was taken to the community housing and given a room, and when we arrived, my boss and her husband were moved into one bedroom of an apartment and I was moved into the other bedroom of the same apartment. When I asked if my coworker and I were going to move into the other condo once it became available in a few days, I was told no. I brought up the problem to my boss’ boss and said that I am concerned about living with my boss and her husband for the next three months, but for the short term it is not a problem. He said that it’s a valid concern, and that he would work on it and that I should suck it up for about a week. About a week has passed, and my coworker who I originally was going to live with has expressed her preference for staying where she is because she is already settled in, and I was informed by my boss that I am to keep living with her and her husband for the foreseeable future. This is so my boss’ boss and another male coworker can live in the other apartment and my coworker can stay where she is. I am quite uncomfortable with this situation and have expressed this to my boss, my boss’ boss, and the person in charge of housing, and I am not sure what to do next. I am excited about this job and really enjoy working with my team, but working 72 hours a week with my boss and her husband and then going home with them is just a bit too weird for me. Any advice? How firmly have you told your boss’s boss and the person in charge of housing that this won’t work for you? This isn’t less-than-ideal housing for a couple of nights in an emergency; this is three months of your life outside of work, and they almost certainly have other solutions available if you make it clear that the current plan is a no-go for you. If, out of a desire to be flexible and not demanding or to seem like a team player, you’ve been anything less than than crystal clear that this is a no for you, it’s time now to get much more emphatic. Talk to your boss’s boss again, state firmly that you’re not on board with this, and say you need to make arrangements to move, whether to the community housing where your coworker is or somewhere else. For example: “I was willing to do it for a week like you asked, but I’m not comfortable with this for longer than that. I’d like to move to the community housing where Jane is or, if that’s not possible, to a hotel or other solution.” If you get any pushback: “Given the length of the trip, it’s really not feasible and I wouldn’t have signed on for it under these conditions. I can take the lead on finding a place to move if that’s the fastest way to handle it.” 2. My bad coworker is finally leaving … should I stay? I’ve had issues with my underperforming coworker, Sanford, as long as I’ve been with my small nonprofit. From missing agreed-upon deadlines 90% of the time, to saying misogynistic things to coworkers in meetings (he singles out our foreign-born female coworkers — never the males — to repeat things back to him, to make sure they understood it, despite them being fluent in English and just being one of the people listening in a group meeting), he has been a “missing stair” in our organization for years. Despite this, our CEO saw it fit to create a completely new director-level position for him, promoting him by two levels and firmly setting a ceiling on my career path within the organization, as his new role took parts of what I would do at that level. Despite all the flexibility, raises, and promotions he’s received despite his skills and work ethic (or lack thereof), Sanford has landed another role outside of the organization and is leaving. Many of us are celebrating, but I’m left in a tricky situation. I’d also planned on leaving, in large part due to being tired of cleaning up after Sanford, but now my path for growth seems to have opened up. Do I stick around and see if Sanford’s absence helps make my job easier and clears the way for my career growth, or do I continue to pursue other opportunities? I am in the final stages of interviewing at several other companies that would pay me substantially more than what I make in my current role. Keep pursuing those other opportunities. Sanford is leaving because he got another job, not because your organization decided to deal with him (in fact, the opposite — they promoted him) so if you stay, you’re staying at an organization that not only accommodates Sanfords, but rewards and tries to retain them. They didn’t suddenly see the light and become a better place to work, and if another Sanford comes on the scene tomorrow, you’d have no reason to believe they’d do anything differently with the new one. Their handling of Sanford says something about who they are as an organization; you shouldn’t change your plans just because this one manifestation of those problems is gone. 3. New manager is changing things for the worse I work in a grocery store bakery. My teammates and I all have things organized in a way that is best for our efficiency. This new assistant manager has rearranged things into a mess. I have allowed this to go on out of respect. It’s just not working. I have gone to my bakery manager as well as store management bout it. What do I do now? I have changed things around since no one has helped me. And she just changes it back. She has not been receptive to speaking about it. She struggles with a power struggle. The thing about being in a power struggle with your manager is that the manager is nearly always going to win because of their power and authority relative to yours — or at least that’s the case if you’ve talked to levels of management above you and no one cares enough to intervene. You and your teammates can certainly try talking to your manager as a group and explaining why you want to switch things back — and that’s worth doing if you haven’t yet — but ultimately if you can’t convince her, you don’t have much recourse. In that situation, your best bet is probably to roll with the changes for a while. If a month or two from now they’re still causing problems, raise it again at that point; sometimes when you’ve made a good-faith effort to roll with changes but can still point to problems, that’s an easier sell than when you resist them from the start. 4. Is it illegal to hire someone just to fire people? I’m writing a novel and I have a character who is hired solely to make people redundant before moving on. I heard from someone recently that it is illegal to hire someone for the sole purpose of making people redundant/firing them, only to get rid of them after they’ve completed this job. Is that true? You mean hiring someone specifically to conduct layoffs/firing but not keeping them on after that? Like George Clooney’s character in Up in the Air? It’s not illegal to do that. Typically, though, if a company brings in someone from the outside to do it, they’d go with a firm or contractor (also like Up in the Air), not hire a full employee to do it — but it wouldn’t be illegal to have them be an actual employee if for some reason they wanted to. (That said, your use of “make people redundant” makes me think you might be in the UK rather than the U.S., and I can only speak to U.S. laws.) View the full article

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Google has announced the general availability of Gemini 2.0 Flash, expanding access to its AI models through the Gemini API in Google AI Studio and Vertex AI. The company is also launching an experimental version of Gemini 2.0 Pro, aimed at improving coding performance and handling complex prompts, and introducing Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite, its most cost-efficient model to date. Gemini 2.0 Flash Now Widely Available Initially introduced at Google I/O 2024, the Flash series has been positioned as a high-speed, low-latency model optimized for large-scale AI tasks. Gemini 2.0 Flash now features improved performance on key benchmarks, with image generation and text-to-speech capabilities set to roll out in the coming months. The model supports a 1 million token context window and multimodal reasoning, making it highly effective for processing vast amounts of information. Developers can now integrate 2.0 Flash into production applications via Google AI Studio and Vertex AI. Gemini 2.0 Pro Experimental Targets Advanced AI Use Cases Google has also introduced Gemini 2.0 Pro (Experimental), an AI model designed for coding performance and complex prompt handling. The model features a 2 million token context window, enabling it to analyze and understand large datasets comprehensively. It also integrates Google Search and code execution tools to enhance reasoning and knowledge retrieval. “Today, we’re releasing an experimental version of Gemini 2.0 Pro that responds to that feedback. It has the strongest coding performance and ability to handle complex prompts, with better understanding and reasoning of world knowledge, than any model we’ve released so far,” writes Koray Kavukcuoglu, CTO of Google DeepMind. Gemini 2.0 Pro is now available in Google AI Studio, Vertex AI, and for Gemini Advanced users via desktop and mobile. Introduction of Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite for Cost-Effective AI Solutions Google is also rolling out Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite, a public preview model that improves upon 1.5 Flash while maintaining the same speed and cost efficiency. It supports a 1 million token context window and multimodal input, allowing it to generate AI-driven content at scale. According to Google, Flash-Lite can generate captions for approximately 40,000 unique images for less than a dollar in Google AI Studio’s paid tier. The model is now available in Google AI Studio and Vertex AI for developers. Security and Responsible AI Development As AI capabilities expand, Google has emphasized safety measures for the Gemini 2.0 family. The company has implemented reinforcement learning techniques that allow Gemini to critique its responses, improving accuracy and its ability to handle sensitive prompts. Additionally, Google is deploying automated red teaming to identify security risks, including indirect prompt injection attacks, where malicious instructions are embedded in data that AI models might retrieve. Google plans to continue refining the Gemini 2.0 lineup, with additional multimodal capabilities set for release in the coming months. Developers and businesses can explore the models now in Google AI Studio and Vertex AI, with more details available on the Google for Developers blog. This article, "Google Expands Availability of Gemini 2.0 AI Models" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Google has announced the general availability of Gemini 2.0 Flash, expanding access to its AI models through the Gemini API in Google AI Studio and Vertex AI. The company is also launching an experimental version of Gemini 2.0 Pro, aimed at improving coding performance and handling complex prompts, and introducing Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite, its most cost-efficient model to date. Gemini 2.0 Flash Now Widely Available Initially introduced at Google I/O 2024, the Flash series has been positioned as a high-speed, low-latency model optimized for large-scale AI tasks. Gemini 2.0 Flash now features improved performance on key benchmarks, with image generation and text-to-speech capabilities set to roll out in the coming months. The model supports a 1 million token context window and multimodal reasoning, making it highly effective for processing vast amounts of information. Developers can now integrate 2.0 Flash into production applications via Google AI Studio and Vertex AI. Gemini 2.0 Pro Experimental Targets Advanced AI Use Cases Google has also introduced Gemini 2.0 Pro (Experimental), an AI model designed for coding performance and complex prompt handling. The model features a 2 million token context window, enabling it to analyze and understand large datasets comprehensively. It also integrates Google Search and code execution tools to enhance reasoning and knowledge retrieval. “Today, we’re releasing an experimental version of Gemini 2.0 Pro that responds to that feedback. It has the strongest coding performance and ability to handle complex prompts, with better understanding and reasoning of world knowledge, than any model we’ve released so far,” writes Koray Kavukcuoglu, CTO of Google DeepMind. Gemini 2.0 Pro is now available in Google AI Studio, Vertex AI, and for Gemini Advanced users via desktop and mobile. Introduction of Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite for Cost-Effective AI Solutions Google is also rolling out Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite, a public preview model that improves upon 1.5 Flash while maintaining the same speed and cost efficiency. It supports a 1 million token context window and multimodal input, allowing it to generate AI-driven content at scale. According to Google, Flash-Lite can generate captions for approximately 40,000 unique images for less than a dollar in Google AI Studio’s paid tier. The model is now available in Google AI Studio and Vertex AI for developers. Security and Responsible AI Development As AI capabilities expand, Google has emphasized safety measures for the Gemini 2.0 family. The company has implemented reinforcement learning techniques that allow Gemini to critique its responses, improving accuracy and its ability to handle sensitive prompts. Additionally, Google is deploying automated red teaming to identify security risks, including indirect prompt injection attacks, where malicious instructions are embedded in data that AI models might retrieve. Google plans to continue refining the Gemini 2.0 lineup, with additional multimodal capabilities set for release in the coming months. Developers and businesses can explore the models now in Google AI Studio and Vertex AI, with more details available on the Google for Developers blog. This article, "Google Expands Availability of Gemini 2.0 AI Models" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Leading a team has never been simple, but today’s challenges demand something extra. With deep divisions in America spilling over into our workplaces, simply carrying on “business as usual” won’t cut it. Employees are craving authenticity, transparency, and leaders who genuinely care. So, how can you step up, even when the path forward seems uncertain? Through conversations with leaders at Fortune 500s and fast-growing startups, we discovered three actions that can help you navigate this moment with courage and empathy. Cultivate trust through transparency & curiosity In an era marked by mass layoffs, arbitrary return-to-office mandates, and eroding faith in institutions, trust in leadership is waning. Our firm, The Courage Collective, held conversations with leaders that revealed two keys to restoring and sustaining trust: curiosity and transparency. Aisha Washington, global vice president and chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer at HPE shared, “Leaders who approach conversations with curiosity rather than judgment uncover deeper insights. It’s about asking questions, being open to all perspectives, and using those insights to make informed decisions.” A recent Gallup poll found that leaders who strongly exhibited clear communication, showcased an inspirational vision for the future, and supported change were trusted by 95% of their employees. Cultivating trust during precarious times demands acknowledging uncertainty and being honest about not having all the answers. Carolyn Moore, former CHRO and current managing director at Momentum People, explained, “It’s about honesty and vulnerability—admitting we don’t know everything but creating trust by being open and realistic.” Leaders should be ready to ask the difficult questions: Who’s being left out of the conversation? How can I showcase that every employee’s feedback is valuable? Transparency without fear tactics fosters openness and empowers teams to navigate challenges together. Leaders who embrace open dialogue, share information honestly, and leverage insights to inform decisions create a strong foundation for trust. Generating an uplifting vision, rather than setting punitive standards, is the emerging core competency of successful leaders. Defining the organization’s direction (the vision), while allowing “the how” to emerge through team collaboration is essential. Let go of the (impossible) burden of having all the answers and lead through curiosity, transparency, and trust. Invest in opportunities for connection & community care If a return to office is necessary to foster a healthy work culture, leaders must communicate their intentions effectively. Positioning it as a faux productivity boost sends a message of mistrust. Employees will quickly poke holes in this rationale and absorb the implicit message, “if I can’t see you working, I don’t trust that you’re doing your best.” Marc Berger, EVP at DH, observed that “rigid [return to work] policies can lead to frustration and disengagement, particularly when there is a lack of intentionality with how the time is spent.” The truth is, leaders from a variety of work structures have found employees willing—and sometimes eager—to be in person if they’re given flexibility and purpose. Leaders should lean into a new normal by creating opportunities for meaningful connections. Below are a variety of tactics leaders are using to make in-person days feel more purposeful, connected, and collaborative. · Purpose-Driven Office Days: Leverage in-office days to foster collaboration with all-hands meetings or cross-team working opportunities · Meaningful All Company Retreats: Host at least and invest in one or two all-hands meetings annually with balanced agendas that blend structured discussions with team-building events. · Invest in the Experience: Allocate resources for well-organized, engaging events to encourage alignment and connection. · Encourage Feedback and Continuous Improvement: Gather employee input to refine future meetings and ensure they align with team needs. Prioritize the human experience through active listening & meaningful response In times of compounding crises, employees long to be seen, heard, nurtured, and encouraged. More than ever, employees are seeking workplaces where they can share feedback, experience deep listening, and see change enacted as a result. While many organizations have created systems to signal care about receiving feedback, failing to act on it often leaves employees feeling frustrated and micromanaged. Elaine Gibbons, chief impact officer at Panorama Global, shared, “One of the biggest gaps in organizations is a lack of true listening. Leaders must go beyond collecting employee feedback—they need to act on it consistently and authentically. When employees see their input driving real change, not only do they feel valued, their commitment to the organization strengthens.” Simply put, if you ask for feedback, ensure that there is follow-through and follow-up. When employees see leaders actively listening and enacting real change, it builds connection, motivation, and trust. For many organizations, employee morale is at an all-time low. The simple act of deep listening and connecting to employees on a human level can drive meaningful change, especially in challenging times. As workplace dynamics evolve, leaders have a unique opportunity to rise to the occasion and demonstrate effective, human-centered leadership. The future of leadership demands courage, empathy, and a steadfast commitment to growth. While some challenges may seem daunting, they also present an opportunity for leaders to create workplaces where people feel empowered to do and be their best. The world of work is evolving. The way you lead should, too. View the full article