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Humanity has sequenced the genome and built artificial intelligence, and yet it’s still shockingly hard to find the right foundation shade. I’ve spent hours at Sephora searching for a shade that doesn’t make my skin look ashy or unnatural. Then, when I finally do find a match, my skin gets darker after a day in the sun, and the color no longer works. I’m not alone in my frustration. Last year, makeup brands sold $8.4 billion of foundation around the world, but you can still find social media brimming with people complaining about how hard it is to find the right shade. A new brand, Boldhue, wants to solve this problem forever. The company has created a machine that scans your face in three places, then instantly dispenses a customized foundation shade. Using a system similar to Keurig pods, the machine comes with five color cartridges that mix to create the right color; once they run out, you order more. Boldhue Co-Founder and CEO Rachel Wilson and Artistic Director Sir John [Photo: Boldhue] The product could revolutionize the way that everyday consumers do their makeup at home—and also make it far easier for professional makeup artists to create the right shade for their clients. Fueled by $3.37 million in venture funding from Mark Cuban’s Lucas Venture Group, BoldHue believes it can bring this technology to all kinds of other cosmetic products. The Quest To Find Your Shade Karin Layton, BoldHue’s co-founder and CTO, was an aerospace engineer who worked at Raytheon. Five years ago, she realized that her high-end foundation didn’t accurately match her skin. As a hobby, Layton dabbled in painting and had a fascination with color theory. So she began tinkering with building a machine that would produce a person’s exact skin shade. During the pandemic, after Layton decided to turn her idea into real company, she brought her childhood friend and serial entrepreneur, Rachel Wilson, as her business partner. “I really resonated with the pain points she was trying to solve because I am half Argentinian,” says Wilson, who is now CEO. “And while I present as white, I have undertones that make it complicated for me to find the right shade. “I always look like a pumpkin or a ghost when I wear foundation.” [Photo: Boldhue] Women of color, in particular, have trouble finding the right shade. For years, the makeup industry focused on creating products for caucasian women, leaving Black and brown women to come up with their own solutions. This only began to change a decade ago. In 2015, I wrote about a chemist at L’Oreal, Balanda Atis, went on a personal quest to develop a darker foundation that wouldn’t make her skin look too red or black. L’Oreal eventually commercialized the product she created and promoted Atis to become the head of the Women of Color lab, which focuses on creating products for women of color. Danessa Myricks, a self-taught makeup artist, spent years mixing her own foundation using dark pigments she found at costume makeup stores and mixed them with drugstore foundations. In 2015, she launched her own beauty brand, Danessa Myricks Beauty, and four years ago, Sephora began to carry it. [Photo: Boldhue] Today, there are more options for women of color, but many women still struggle to find the right shade. BoldHue believes the solution lies in technology. Color matching technology already exists, but it is not particularly convenient for consumers. Lancome has a machine that color matches, but it’s only available in certain stores. Sephora has ColorIQ, which scans your face and matches you to different brands. But part of the problem is that your skin tone isn’t static; it is constantly changing based on how much sun exposure you have, especially if you are have a lot of melanin. “If you order a shade online, your complexion may have changed by the time you receive it seven days later,” says Wilson. Color-Matching At Home Wilson and Layton believe that having an affordable, at-home solution to color matching could be game-changing. The machine comes with a wand. When you want to create a new foundation shade, you scan your skin on your forehead, your cheek, and your neck. Then the machine instantly dispenses about a week’s worth of that shade into a little container. The machine can store that shade for you to use in the future. But having the machine in your house means that you can easily re-scan your face after a day at the beach to get a more accurate shade. If there are multiple people in a household (or say, a sorority house) who wear foundation, they can each scan their faces to produce the perfect shade. And it could transform the work of makeup artists who typically mix their own shades for their clients throughout the day. “They’re lugging around pounds of products to set and are forced to play chemist all day long,” says Wilson. “If we can shade match for them in one minute, they can focus on the artistry part of their job, and they’re wildly excited about that. It also means they can book more clients in a day, because they have more time.” While on the surface, BoldHue’s technology seems to disrupt to the foundation industry, Wilson believes it could actually empower other makeup brands. Each makeup brand has its own formula that influences the creaminess and coverage of their foundations. BoldHue could create a brand’s formula in the machine, but have the added benefit of highly specific color matches. BoldHue is already in talks to partner with brands to create customized foundations for them, much the way that Keurig partners with brands like Peet’s and Illy to create pods for the coffee machines. But ultimately, the possibilities go beyond foundation. With this technology BoldHue could create other color cosmetics, from concealer to lipstick to eyeshadow. “We think of ourselves as a technology company with a beauty deliverable,” Wilson says. View the full article

For years, the creator economy has become increasingly accepted as the future of media. These days, makeup tutorials on TikTok could have the same impact for a brand as a multi-million dollar marketing campaign, and a progressive Twitch streamer can reach a comparable, if not bigger audience, as MSNBC. But like digital media before it, the creator economy now faces a multifaceted conundrum that could determine its long term fate: shifting priorities from Meta and X, the potential TikTok ban (which, thanks to an executive order from the Trump administration, has at least a stay of execution), industry consolidation, and AI-enabled content overload. Taken together, these issues could spell the end of the influencer and creator economy as it exists in its current form, according to nearly a dozen industry experts interviewed by Fast Company. The appeal of influencers has historically laid with their supposed authenticity. They’re pushing products they believe in or sharing news commentary from an unfiltered perspective, which resonated with consumers. Increasingly, there is a sentiment that this authenticity is fading. And that could spell big long-term changes. AI: Friend of Foe? AI tools have made it easier for influencers to break into the marketplace like using ChatGPT to write articles, or Adobe’s text to image maker to make pictures, and Canva’s AI video generator to make clips. By doing so, these products have made it easier to get content out in the world without developing the skills needed to make higher quality programming. That low barrier to entry—and the general proliferation of AI-fueled content across the web—also means it can be difficult for creators to stand out. At the same time, the ubiquity of AI has for many consumers inserted a skepticism around authenticity. Amazon Web Services researchers believe 57% of online content is already made by AI programs or translated via AI programs. Yet, per a recent Deloitte study, seven out of 10 consumers reportedly think generative AI is ruining the user experience. That’s already having an impact on how consumers interact with creators and influencers. Forty-five percent of 13 to 22 year olds say that influencers don’t have as much sway as they used to, according to a YPulse study. Meanwhile, a survey by EnTribe found 51% of consumers scrolled right past an influencer post that appeared in their feed. “In terms of actually using AI as the way to generate ideas to create content, I think we’re just going to get a lot of quantity and not quality,” says Ivy Yang, founder of Wavelet Strategy, a New York-based communications consultancy. Sure enough, brands have started to catch on to consumer sentiment. A plethora of brands have asked their ad agencies to not use AI in their strategies. Dove notably said it would not use AI-generated content at all. Are Brand Partnerships Really Helping? A staggering 61% of 13 to 39-year-olds believe the more ads influencers do, the less they trust them, according to a YPulse survey. “As soon as the audience starts to feel like this person isn’t authentic or interesting, they just jump to another person who is seen as more authentic and interesting,” says James Nord, founder and CEO of the influencer marketing company Fohr. That authenticity problem is already impacting brands who rely on influencers to push their products. An EnTribe study found that 42% of people who purchased something recommended by influencers regretted that decision which is fueling a credibility crisis. “Inauthenticity can trigger swift backlash, and evolving regulations add complexity. As digital trends shift rapidly, sustainable success demands agility and foresight,” says Lizi Sprague, a cofounder of Songue PR. Brands are progressively spending less on social media marketing all together. A survey of 292 CMOs showed a 23% decline in 2023 and another 11% decline in 2024. Brands are finding more success with more niche “nano-influencers” but that means spreading a wider net and dishing out smaller payouts. Misinformation Crisis Influencers played an outsize role in the 2024 presidential election. Both candidates relied heavily on podcast appearances, but ultimately President Donald Trump’s strategy was to tap into the so-called “manosphere,” which ultimately led to his success by helping him court the Gen Z male vote by double-digit margins. Now, concerns about the surge in misinformation on platforms like X and TikTok are starting to drive news consumers away. Indeed, a 2023 Gartner survey suggests that influencers being on equal footing with established press may be a short-lived phenomenon. The study found that more than half of consumers plan to pull away from social media as soon as this year, citing the spread of misinformation as one of the top reasons—a big concern with a president now in office known for lying on a regular basis. And per a 2024 study from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 62% of creators admittedly do not verify information before spreading it online. “Talking to students about their interactions with social media platforms [. . . ] they kind of feel bad about how much time to spend with these platforms,” says Jacob Nelson, a journalism professor at the University of Utah. Nelson, who has written about shifts in social media audiences for Harvard’s Nieman Lab, says this is the first time his students aren’t optimistic about the future of social media and are in fact pulling away. “No one among the audience seems all that thrilled with the amount of time that they are investing,” he tells Fast Company. Will the Creator Economy Survive? As a cautionary tale, the creator economy ought to look at the digital media sector. In the early 2010s, publishers like Vice and Vox seemed almost invincible. But they were ultimately dependent on the whim of tech giants for their own success—particularly Facebook (which was behind the infamous “pivot to video” trend) and Google. Eventually these Silicon Valley power players shifted their strategy—and proved disastrous for publishers who relied on them. Websites like BuzzFeed, Gawker, and Mic suddenly faced a massive shift in their own manifest destiny (i.e., a cascade of layoffs and consolidations) often under the control of private equity. Ultimately, these changes left many outlets as husks of their former selves. In 2012 the digital media industry seemed unstoppable; in 2018 alone, it laid off over 15,000 workers, according to a report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. “The platforms frankly are always going to be optimizing for their own business interests,” says Sterling Proffer, former head of growth for Vice Media. Fast forward to today: X, Linkedin, and Meta platforms have all shifted key parts of their business model several times in the last couple years and TikTok is still on the chopping block. That’s why those who don’t have the skills to scale their creator offerings outside of one specific platform may not survive—at least if they want to make creating content a full-time job. “I think that the folks who have been building on that are coming to recognize this element that they’re building on rented land, and there is a need for content creators who can diversify their offerings across platforms and even in real life,” Brett Dashevsky, founder of Creator Economy NYC and the head of Content Creators at Kickstarter, tells Fast Company. Creators who have a specific skill or insight—say, a chef sharing unique culinary knowledge—will stand the test of time. They can upscale their projects to include in-person events like cooking classes, exclusive dinners, cookbooks, and meal kits. But for those who rose to fame thanks just to brand deals and dance videos, the future may not look so sunny after all. View the full article

NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is most well known for the National Weather Service, providing forecasting that underpins local meteorological reports and major sites like AccuWeather. But the data that NOAA collects is also crucial for private-sector industries, from airlines to insurance. The Trump administration is threatening this agency, and began slashing jobs there on Thursday. That means those other industries are also at risk. When it comes to insurance, climate change already causes billions of dollars in losses globally. Here in the U.S. people who live in areas especially prone to climate risks are seeing their rates skyrocket, or they’re seeing insurance carriers withdraw coverage in high-risk states. Without NOAA data, these trends could worsen, and leave even more Americans with higher insurance premiums—or without coverage at all. “Financial services, including home insurance providers, consistently rely on [NOAA] to comprehend the influence of climate and weather on the economy and to facilitate transactions,” says Manogna Vangari, an insurance analyst at GlobalData. Specifically, insurance providers get data from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), which recently revealed that in 2024, the U.S. experienced 27 individual weather and climate disasters causing at least $1 billion in damages each. In total, 2024 saw more than $192 billion in disaster costs, and more than 560 direct or indirect fatalities. NCEI data helps insurers assess risks, and determine premiums. Insurers use this data to develop their catastrophe models, which estimate the economic losses from extreme weather events like hurricanes and floods; that then underpins premiums, underwriting, claims, and more. Insurers also look at data sets on storm report categories by state, as well as databases on specific disaster types such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and tsunamis. Losing that data, Vangari says, would complicate the way home insurance companies price climate-related risks. It also would hinder their ability to accurately model out the risk of extreme weather events, like wildfires and hurricanes, “and to price climate risk with greater precision.” Without knowing those climate risks, insurance companies themselves risk more financial losses. To make up for that uncertainty, they’ll need to raise premiums even more, or they might just choose to pull out of particularly risky areas. The cost of losing that accurate, reliable data would then fall on consumers. Insurance companies also use NOAA retrospective analysis of weather effects to verify claims—like how bad a hailstorm really was, says Rick Spinrad, who served as NOAA administrator from 2021 until January of this year. The insurance industry, as well as the reinsurance industry (which provides insurance for other insurance companies) has had an informal partnership with NOAA for 20 years. Spinrad formalized that partnership with a 2024 memorandum of understanding with the Reinsurance Association of America, an agreement meant to improve risk communication. NOAA has also worked with the insurance industry through its Industry Proving Ground, an initiative to test tailored services for the private sector, and to make sure the agency provides the best data for businesses to be most effective. Because NOAA is a government service funded by taxpayers, its data is free. That means everyone has access to crucial weather forecasts. Project 2025, the conservative playbook that the Trump administration is following, advocates privatizing this service. But experts have said that even private weather companies wouldn’t want that, because then they’d have to bear the cost of collecting the data that the government currently provides. If, instead, this data were accessible only to those who could afford it, that would particularly impact homeowners in vulnerable communities, Vangari says. “Insurers might be hesitant to pay a fee and rely on some other alternative source without access to reliable data,” she adds. “This would lead to a disproportionate increase in insurance premiums. Additionally, insurers may refuse to provide coverage in high-risk areas.” That doesn’t just impact people who may lose their homes and need to rebuild. Broadly, the stakes of losing this data are serious: In places that are susceptible to climate impacts like tornadoes or floods or tsunamis along the coast, timely access to weather data can be a matter of life and death. Not having the data doesn’t stop climate impacts from happening, multiple experts have noted—it just makes us less prepared. Some private companies are starting to invest in their own weather satellites. But completely replicating NOAA’s instrumental fleet and weather coverage—which includes operating 18 satellites, launching weather balloons from nearly 100 locations twice every day, and deploying more than 1,300 buoys—would require an enormous amount of money. What NOAA is able to provide for free, Vangari says, is “a public good. . . . Its services offer safety and security universally, not merely to those who can afford them.” View the full article

Deputy governor Dave Ramsden says interest rate cuts must be gradualView the full article

Keir Starmer’s little wins with Donald Trump don’t add up to victoryView the full article

TikTok just updated its desktop viewing experience to offer a smoother UX, expanded features, and more ways to watch. I wish it would go back to how it was before. It’s no secret that TikTok has a mobile-first design. Its beloved hyper-specific algorithm and For You page, as well as its wholehearted embrace of short-form video, has inspired copycats the likes of which include everyone from Instagram to LinkedIn and Substack. TikTok has even changed the fabric of culture itself, shortening attention spans and shaping the music industry as we know it. While TikTok shines on mobile, its desktop experience has historically been significantly less intuitive. The new desktop browser is, by all counts, a marked improvement. But, for those of us who turn to the clunky desktop TikTok to cut down on screen time, it’s not necessarily a good thing. [Photo: TikTok] Ugh, TikTok’s new desktop browser is better The biggest change to TikTok’s desktop browser is the noticeably smoother UX. Previously, scrolling through videos on the homepage could feel delayed and glitchy, which quickly becomes frustrating given that it’s the platform’s main function. Now, each clip transitions smoothly into the next—an element of TikTok’s new “optimized modular layout” that offers “a more immersive viewing experience and seamless feed exploration,” according to a press release. The look of the platform has also been cleaned up and simplified, including via a minimized navigation bar, to “reduce distractions” during doomscrolling. Beyond the improved UX, updated desktop TikTok also comes with a few new features. It’s poached the Explore tab straight from the app, giving users another, less tailored feed to explore. There’s now also full-screen live streaming modes for gamers, a web-exclusive floating player on Google Chrome so users can watch brainrot Subway Surfers TikToks while they shop online, and a collections tool that can organize saved videos into subcategories. And, yeah, on the surface, all of these changes are reasonable responses to TikTok’s lackluster web browser experience. They make it more frictionless, intuitive, and enjoyable. But did the developers ever consider that maybe some of us liked it when it was bad? Can we just not? When TikTok entered the mainstream around the early pandemic, I downloaded it on my phone for a total of about two days. The reason it didn’t make the cut in my app library was not because it was bad, but because it was actually too fun—so much so that reading my AP Lit homework started to feel like an insurmountable task when those little videos were, like, right there. For me, the ideal screen time solution has been to delete social media apps from my phone and only check them when I’m on my computer, where their desktop counterparts tend to be more outdated and, sometimes, downright annoying. My one exception to this rule is YouTube Shorts, but only because its algorithm is leagues behind TikTok’s and therefore tends to drive me away by recommending one too many English hobby horsing videos. Am I still addicted to these apps? Most definitely. But do I feel like I have to check them every 30 seconds? Thankfully, no. TikTok’s desktop experience used to similarly serve as a refuge from the mobile app itself. It was a safe place to get a quick taste of what’s happening online without getting sucked into a three-hour rabbit hole about giving butter to babies. Its irritating quirks were precisely the point—and, I would argue, plenty of other desktop users likely turned to this version for the same reason. Now, though, as the desktop experience creeps ever-closer to the actual mobile app, we’re all going to have to figure out where to relegate TikTok so that we can hack our brains out of craving it. View the full article

A recent Society for Human Resources Management study found that 47% of employees with invisible chronic conditions—illnesses or disabilities that limit activities and functions but lack visible symptoms—have not disclosed their conditions to their employers. When I first read this statistic, I wasn’t surprised. In a world where the majority of people with invisible disabilities fear discrimination and stigma should they disclose, where is the incentive to do so? I am part of the 53% who has disclosed her invisible illness to her employer, and fortunately received support, empathy, and understanding as a result. Without a doubt, privilege is at play here. I’m a white, college-educated woman with five years in my career under my belt. This affords me access to opportunities and healthcare as well as social and cultural latitudes that, unfortunately, many do not share. I wish my experience could be the norm. As I reflect on the experiences that led me to this point, I’m considering how organizations and their leaders can rethink these disclosures to better support employees. Who can afford the risk of disclosing For the majority of my career, I’ve grappled with an acceleration in symptoms from my chronic illness, later found to be a likely result of the Lyme disease I contracted while in utero (something that impacts only a very small population of fetuses globally). My body could not sustain the consistent schedule and output needed to succeed in a traditional workplace, so I turned to self-employment, which allowed me to earn a living while managing decades of health challenges. With my health stabilized, I began seeking traditional employment in 2023. Inevitably, the question of why I was interested in working for someone else after so long working for myself would come up. I decided to be honest and candid, letting employers form their own opinions. While my health challenges were far less acute than they once had been, I knew that my chronic illness would always be a part of my professional story—so sharing that early on in the process would help me gauge reactions and understand whether an organization would be the right fit for me. Plus, I was largely targeting healthcare companies in my search, and I knew that my experiences on the patient-facing side could be an immense asset to leverage during the interview process. Still, each time I shared the reasons behind my unconventional résumé history with a recruiter, I felt a twist of nerves in my stomach, born of the instinctive thought that such an admission would be an overall detriment to the way I am perceived in the workplace. I’m sure you can imagine how delighted I was at the number of recruiters and hiring managers who responded with empathy, kindness, and appreciation for my honesty. One recruiter thanked me for my bravery and shared that she also lives with an autoimmune disorder. Another commiserated with me about how challenging it is to live with Lyme disease, as his mother-in-law had just been diagnosed. These conversations typically segued neatly into discussions about my ability to adapt to and around my chronic illness, underscoring that I am the kind of employee (and person) who looks to leverage her lived experience toward positive outcomes for others—and am committed to using all the effort possible to do so. Ultimately, my approach paid off. Since the start of 2024, I’ve been able to leverage my experience as a “professional patient” (a phrase I coined as a half-joking nod to my lifetime spent in and out of doctor’s offices) to better serve patients and providers through my work as a content marketing specialist for a healthcare startup. Advocating for truly accessible approaches When I joined the organization for which I now work, I once again chose to share my experience living with lifelong chronic illness—this time, with colleagues and my manager. That’s because the internal culture is one that I knew would be accepting and accommodating. During an initial call with a new coworker welcoming me to the team, I learned that they also live with a chronic illness. The ease with which they disclosed, and the way they spoke about the organization’s response—that their disclosure had been met with reminders that their health is the most important thing, and encouragements to arrange elements of their work to be as accommodating as possible—told me that my disclosure would likely be met similarly. As it turns out, I was right. My disclosures sounded different depending on who I was talking to; I often deployed the “professional patient” joke when in conversation with clinicians or researchers, while I got a bit more granular with the people I collaborate with often, such as my team and my manager. Regardless of how the conversation started, it always ended the same way: They were gracious and thankful for my candor, and I was likewise thankful for their understanding and willingness to hear me. Unfortunately, researchers have consistently found that my experience is a rare one. A 2021 academic analysis found that most chronically ill and disabled office workers spend a disproportionate amount of energy concealing all visible symptoms of their condition for fear of discrimination or retaliation. That means their time spent away from work isn’t spent preparing to return refreshed and renewed but rather managing their symptoms so they can continue to conceal them at work. This could include, but certainly isn’t limited to, sleeping 10 to 12 or more hours on the weekends, fitting in all-day IV infusions between errand-running on Saturdays, or staying in their home and not speaking to any friends or family members to manage emotional and cognitive burnout. Is it any wonder that people with disabilities are part of the subgroup found to experience 26% higher work-related burnout? Like millions of other workers across the United States, the choices I make about my career and ways of working are driven primarily by the chronic condition with which I live. Employers, founders, and managers can help alleviate this mental burden for their employees with invisible disabilities by doing these three things: Rethink ending remote work. For many disabled or chronically ill employees, remote, hybrid, and/or flexible work isn’t a nice-to-have—it’s an accommodation and an equalizer. In a remote-first workplace, chronically ill or disabled employees can have equal visibility on their work as their able-bodied and healthy counterparts without having to worry about being judged for their invisible condition. Prioritize curiosity and empathy. Two people with the same invisible condition may have very different symptoms. Encourage managers and leaders to respond to disclosures with empathy and gratitude—responses that lead to massive increases in both employee engagement and well-being. Open the floor. While no one owes anyone a candid disclosure of their health status, consider offering opportunities to impact and shape diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) initiatives, such as employee resource groups (ERGs), to employees like me who have elected to do so. Their expertise in their own experience is uniquely valuable, and should be seen as such. To that end, ensure these opportunities are genuinely and thoughtfully offered, not just put together as a way to tick a box on a list of inclusive options. As some organizations choose to downsize DEI initiatives, and even stop using words like equity altogether, it’s never been more vital to ensure employees—regardless of health, ability, gender, race, and more—are supported so they can do their best work. I’m living proof that these approaches work, and I hope that more organizations choose to follow suit. View the full article

IAG posts record annual profits driven by demand for transatlantic travelView the full article

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Many things are considered distinctly millennial: a man bun, avocado toast, axe-throwing bars. Now you can apparently add millennial burger joints to that list. On February 11, TikToker fairylights2007 shared a clip using Kyle Gordon’s “2011 Millennial” parody song, along with a caption that read: “This song is so truffle fries overpriced burger brick walls metal tin of ketchup.” You know the type. As the video points out, the burgers are typically overpriced—$19 to be exact—always with a brioche bun. Fries are extra and come served in a fryer basket with a special “house sauce” (i.e., ketchup mixed with mayo). Somewhere in the restaurant, a chalkboard lists “local” IPA beers. The menu includes sections like “handhelds” and “sweet treats.” The decor? Exposed piping, string lights, and Edison bulbs. Commenters on the video were quick to point out other telltale signs of millennial burger joints. “A pbj burger on the menu,” one wrote. “Games no one has ever played but every bar has,” suggested another. Chances are, you’ve frequented one of these places at least once—whether you wanted to or not. Gordon’s song has since become the soundtrack to a number of TikTok videos jumping on the trend. “YES we’re a millennial burger joint; YES we overprice everything; YES our truffle fries are mediocre at best; YES we’re two guys with a crazy idea; NO we don’t offer comfortable seating; YES we serve water in mason jars,” one post read. “It was about time all these burger places with the same aesthetic get called out,” another creator added. These burger joints became popular in the mid-to-late 2010s, right around the time millennials were launching their first businesses. But now they’ve become prime targets for the online generation, who love to poke fun at millennials for everything from their “cringe” humor to their love of Harry Potter. And yet, for all the mockery, these places aren’t going anywhere. The “millennial burger joint” may now be shorthand for a style-over-substance hipster eatery, but I, for one, will be enjoying my basket of mediocre truffle fries with garlic aioli. So sue me. View 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. My mom answered my phone and told off my boss I was very sick with Covid and my mom had to come take care of me. She already knew issues that I’d been having with my boss; he’s a jerk. I learned later that he called to ask a question that he could have easily found the answer himself. My mother answered the phone and yelled at him because he does a lot of abusive things and keeps us working on days off, even vacation, not to mention when people are very sick. He is the type who can dish out the punishment or rude comments but cant handle it when you do it back even the slightest. Anyway, she told me what she had done. Once I returned to work, I was written up and told my mother is not to answer my phone when anyone from the company calls because they chip in $50 a month for the phone. This is not their phone. Does this warrant a write-up? Do they have the right to say my mother cannot answer my phone? No, this doesn’t warrant a write-up. If you call someone’s personal phone, you risk someone else answering it and conducting themselves differently than an employee would. But there’s no official arbiter of what you can and can’t be written up for; there’s only common sense, and your boss clearly doesn’t have it. The question about whether they can say your mom can’t answer company calls on your phone when they pay part of the bill … eh, probably. If they consider that your work phone, then sure, they can say you’re the only one who can answer it (hell, in a lot of states they could say that without paying any of the bill). It’s a dumb response from them, though. Also, though, your mom should stay out of your work life and not tell your boss off on your behalf! I get the impulse, but she doesn’t have the standing to do that and she ended up causing problems for you at work. But I kind of love her for defending her sick kid. Is she up for telling off other people’s bosses too? She’d probably be in demand. 2. Staff is grumbling about sales team’s “perks” I manage a team of salesmen who call on very large customers. Typically we are responsible for signing 5-10 contracts that generate a lot of meaningful revenue for the company. Because of the size of these contracts and the nature of our customers, we attend a lot of off-hours events to host our customers — things like dinners, concerts, and professional sporting events. As a manager, I try to be flexible with people’s schedules to accommodate all the hours they end up working outside of the normal 9-5. However, I’m running into problems with other departments complaining about my team’s availability or implying that we are more focused on partying than working. This typically happens when they want to connect with someone on my team but that person is using comp time; for example, they had a 7pm dinner the day before so I don’t have them come into work till 10 am but production wants to meet right at 9 am. I understand why there might be a perception issue to say, “Oh, John is coming in late on Monday because he has to spend all Sunday at the suite of an NFL game,” but these events truly are a work day for us. Attending with a customer and trying to have a meaningful business conversation can be a pretty high pressure and stressful thing! We might have a beer at the game but it’s much more about making sure the customer has a great time then it is about actually enjoying the venue. Typically my team has to provide a recap of any conversations that they had and how contract negotiations are advancing. It’s also not fair to expect them to spend a weekend day or a weeknight working and then go back to a regular schedule. My boss understands this but when I’ve tried explaining it to other departments (typically run by people at my level but without sales experience) I’ve had varying degrees of success. I’ve also set up a couple times a week like Monday afternoons, where I can guarantee that my whole team is working at the same time so these departments can schedule meetings. That has helped manage the scheduling issue that we are having, but it’s made the grumbling worse because they feel like we are being unreasonable. Is there a good way that I can explain to my peers outside of sales that we aren’t being divas, we just have a weird work schedule? Can you stop describing the specifics of what they were doing when they were working off-hours and instead just say “he had to work all day Sunday” or “he worked until very late last night”? If you mention dinners and games, people are going to focus on that to the exclusion of the “work” part. You might also try talking with the other managers one-on-one about the pattern and ask for their help in figuring out how to resolve it; sometimes when people are enlisted in solving a problem that they themselves are part of it, they start to get it more. And you could say, “While the events can seem like fun ones, that’s still time that my team has to be ‘on’; they can’t relax, they need to be focused on the client, and that’s time that they can’t be with their family or friends or handling household responsibilities. Since we can’t ask people to spend all their waking hours furthering the company’s business interests and they need to have time off as well, what would you suggest?” But some of this is just a perpetual issue between sales and non-sales people, so your measure of success shouldn’t be “there is zero grumbling about this.” 3. Can I use Discord messages to confirm that my unreliable coworker told me she ignores my emails? Right now, I am building an argument to my boss to change the workflow of a specific task to address a problem I have with a coworker (Clara). Clara’s supposed to be doing this task on my behalf. (For internal policy reasons, I’m not allowed to do it myself.) However, Clara is not reliable at doing this task. Over the years, I’ve made a thousand tiny adjustments to my work to make it as easy as possible for her, and she often still makes errors, which only affect me and are for some reason my sole responsibility to identify and (tell her to) fix. I’ve been stewing silently about this for years, because I thought I was just being a hater, frankly. But at my next review, I’m going to urge our boss to see if I can be given the authority to just handle this task myself. Since all of the measures I take to help Clara and make up for her errors are individually very small, I’m compiling documentation to explain everything I’m doing and confirm that, collectively, they consume a lot of my time and energy — much more than just doing it myself. One item I wanted to include was an email from several months ago, where Clara asked me to indicate importance in the subject line of emails to her; I send out a lot of notices to the whole building, so she mostly just ignores messages from me and sometimes misses important ones. However, when I received this email, it made me so blindingly angry — considering everything else I’m already doing — that I trashed it immediately without responding. Now that I’ve decided to talk to our boss about it, it’s gone from the face of the earth. But I have the annoyed Discord messages I sent to my partner the day-of that confirm that this email once existed. They don’t say anything spicy — essentially, “Clara just straight-up admitted to me that she doesn’t read my emails” with an air of frustration — and nothing rude, hostile, or profane. Do you think it would help or hurt my case to include these? If including them is a bad idea, do you have any alternate suggestions? Even if I had the original email, would it have been too petty to include, anyway? Clara’s otherwise very nice and definitely isn’t acting maliciously, so I still feel insane for actually complaining about this. Don’t include the message you sent to your partner about it. It’ll come across as petty, and it puts the focus on your frustration more than on Clara’s behavior. It will also seem odd that you’re trying to come up with “evidence” that the email existed, when no one has asked for any and in any reasonably healthy work environment, simply telling your manager about what was said will be enough. Just tell your manager what Clara told you and assume you’ll be believed. (If your word isn’t enough, there are bigger problems that would dwarf this anyway.) 4. Manager said we can’t talk to HR without telling him first Is it legal/ethical for a supervisor to tell their team they cannot go to HR without telling him and letting him set the appointment with HR? This comes after a coworker went to HR for two reasons (supervisor issues the entire team is having and a request to move departments). Today the team came in and was told that they cannot go to HR about anything without telling him first what it is about and then he will set an appointment with HR if he deems worthy/necessary. I am thinking it is not illegal, but not exactly ethical and definitely not in the favor of the team as the supervisor will not set up appointments if he wants to hide things and there would retaliation. While it’s not illegal on its face, it creates legal liability for your company. What if someone wants to report harassment or discrimination from your boss? They have to go through him first and he’ll decide if they get to talk to HR about it or not? What if he decides they can’t? It’s very unlikely that HR would be okay with this rule if they knew about it (in part because companies need clear and accessible reporting procedures for harassment and discrimination to effectively defend themselves against lawsuits in those areas), so someone should break the rule to tell HR (and when doing that, should point out that they’re doing exactly what they were told they couldn’t and will need HR’s assistance in ensuring they’re not penalized for it). View the full article

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ASUS has introduced the ExpertBook B5 (B5405/B5605), a lightweight business laptop powered by AI-enhanced Intel Core Ultra processors, enterprise-grade security, and customizable configurations designed for professional use. The AI-powered business laptop features ASUS AI ExpertMeet, an on-device AI assistant, and ASUS ExpertGuardian, a security suite providing multi-factor authentication and firmware protection. AI-Powered Performance and Productivity The ExpertBook B5 integrates AI-driven computing, offering up to 99 total-platform TOPS for enhanced multitasking. ASUS’s AI ExpertMeet provides real-time transcription, noise cancellation, and live-translated captions, ensuring seamless collaboration. The laptop’s Intel Core Ultra processors with Intel Arc graphics enable faster content creation and business analytics. Durable, High-Performance Design Encased in a lightweight 1.36kg aluminum frame, the ExpertBook B5 features a 2.5K 144Hz display for crisp visuals. The ASUS ExpertCool thermal solution enhances cooling performance by 26%, maintaining efficiency during extended usage. Built to MIL-STD-810H standards, the device ensures durability in extreme conditions. Enterprise-Grade Security with ASUS ExpertGuardian To safeguard sensitive data, ASUS ExpertGuardian offers multi-layered protection, including Windows 11 Secured-core PC technology, TPM 2.0 encryption, biometric authentication, and USB access locks. The laptop supports certificate-based authentication and self-recovering BIOS protection, providing long-term security updates. Customizable Configurations for IT Management The ExpertBook B5 supports pre-configured BIOS settings, asset labeling, and software imaging for streamlined IT deployments. Its modular design allows for easy maintenance, with a tool-free battery latch reducing downtime. Driving Sustainability with a Digital Product Passport ASUS is introducing a Digital Product Passport (DPP) to enhance lifecycle tracking and sustainability compliance. The QR code-based tracking system provides businesses with real-time data on material sourcing, manufacturing, and recycling, supporting eco-conscious product design. Availability The ExpertBook B5 (B5405/B5605) is now available for enterprise customers. ASUS continues to innovate in AI-driven business computing, delivering high-performance, secure, and sustainable solutions for modern professionals. This article, "ASUS Unveils AI-Powered ExpertBook B5 with Enhanced Security and Customization" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

ASUS has introduced the ExpertBook B5 (B5405/B5605), a lightweight business laptop powered by AI-enhanced Intel Core Ultra processors, enterprise-grade security, and customizable configurations designed for professional use. The AI-powered business laptop features ASUS AI ExpertMeet, an on-device AI assistant, and ASUS ExpertGuardian, a security suite providing multi-factor authentication and firmware protection. AI-Powered Performance and Productivity The ExpertBook B5 integrates AI-driven computing, offering up to 99 total-platform TOPS for enhanced multitasking. ASUS’s AI ExpertMeet provides real-time transcription, noise cancellation, and live-translated captions, ensuring seamless collaboration. The laptop’s Intel Core Ultra processors with Intel Arc graphics enable faster content creation and business analytics. Durable, High-Performance Design Encased in a lightweight 1.36kg aluminum frame, the ExpertBook B5 features a 2.5K 144Hz display for crisp visuals. The ASUS ExpertCool thermal solution enhances cooling performance by 26%, maintaining efficiency during extended usage. Built to MIL-STD-810H standards, the device ensures durability in extreme conditions. Enterprise-Grade Security with ASUS ExpertGuardian To safeguard sensitive data, ASUS ExpertGuardian offers multi-layered protection, including Windows 11 Secured-core PC technology, TPM 2.0 encryption, biometric authentication, and USB access locks. The laptop supports certificate-based authentication and self-recovering BIOS protection, providing long-term security updates. Customizable Configurations for IT Management The ExpertBook B5 supports pre-configured BIOS settings, asset labeling, and software imaging for streamlined IT deployments. Its modular design allows for easy maintenance, with a tool-free battery latch reducing downtime. Driving Sustainability with a Digital Product Passport ASUS is introducing a Digital Product Passport (DPP) to enhance lifecycle tracking and sustainability compliance. The QR code-based tracking system provides businesses with real-time data on material sourcing, manufacturing, and recycling, supporting eco-conscious product design. Availability The ExpertBook B5 (B5405/B5605) is now available for enterprise customers. ASUS continues to innovate in AI-driven business computing, delivering high-performance, secure, and sustainable solutions for modern professionals. This article, "ASUS Unveils AI-Powered ExpertBook B5 with Enhanced Security and Customization" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Apple has announced a $500 billion investment in the United States over the next four years, marking its largest-ever financial commitment. The company’s plan includes a new manufacturing facility in Texas, doubling its U.S. Advanced Manufacturing Fund, expanding research and development, and accelerating investments in AI and silicon engineering. Apple’s investment will support new facilities in Michigan, Texas, California, Arizona, Nevada, Iowa, Oregon, North Carolina, and Washington, reinforcing its focus on advanced manufacturing and innovation. A 250,000-square-foot server manufacturing facility will open in Houston in 2026, creating thousands of jobs and producing servers that support Apple Intelligence and Private Cloud Compute. Apple CEO Tim Cook emphasized the company’s commitment to U.S. innovation, stating, “We are bullish on the future of American innovation, and we’re proud to build on our long-standing U.S. investments with this $500 billion commitment to our country’s future. From doubling our Advanced Manufacturing Fund, to building advanced technology in Texas, we’re thrilled to expand our support for American manufacturing. And we’ll keep working with people and companies across this country to help write an extraordinary new chapter in the history of American innovation.” Apple is doubling its U.S. Advanced Manufacturing Fund from $5 billion to $10 billion, supporting high-tech manufacturing and skills development. The expansion includes a multibillion-dollar commitment to produce advanced silicon at TSMC’s Fab 21 facility in Arizona, where Apple remains the largest customer. Apple’s suppliers manufacture silicon in 24 factories across 12 states, including Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, and Utah. This investment is expected to boost U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and create high-paying jobs. The company is expanding research and development (R&D) operations, nearly doubling U.S.-based R&D spending over the past five years. Apple plans to hire 20,000 employees over the next four years, focusing on AI, silicon engineering, and software development. Apple’s recent launch of the A18 chip and Apple C1 cellular modem highlights its long-term strategy in custom silicon development. The Apple C1 modem, the most power-efficient modem ever in an iPhone, represents a major milestone in the company’s R&D investment. As part of its focus on workforce development, Apple is opening the Apple Manufacturing Academy in Detroit. The facility will train workers and assist small- and medium-sized businesses in adopting AI and smart manufacturing techniques. Partnering with universities like Michigan State, the academy will offer free courses on project management, supply chain efficiency, and manufacturing process optimization. This article, "Apple to Invest Over $500 Billion in U.S. Expansion, Manufacturing, and AI Development" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Apple has announced a $500 billion investment in the United States over the next four years, marking its largest-ever financial commitment. The company’s plan includes a new manufacturing facility in Texas, doubling its U.S. Advanced Manufacturing Fund, expanding research and development, and accelerating investments in AI and silicon engineering. Apple’s investment will support new facilities in Michigan, Texas, California, Arizona, Nevada, Iowa, Oregon, North Carolina, and Washington, reinforcing its focus on advanced manufacturing and innovation. A 250,000-square-foot server manufacturing facility will open in Houston in 2026, creating thousands of jobs and producing servers that support Apple Intelligence and Private Cloud Compute. Apple CEO Tim Cook emphasized the company’s commitment to U.S. innovation, stating, “We are bullish on the future of American innovation, and we’re proud to build on our long-standing U.S. investments with this $500 billion commitment to our country’s future. From doubling our Advanced Manufacturing Fund, to building advanced technology in Texas, we’re thrilled to expand our support for American manufacturing. And we’ll keep working with people and companies across this country to help write an extraordinary new chapter in the history of American innovation.” Apple is doubling its U.S. Advanced Manufacturing Fund from $5 billion to $10 billion, supporting high-tech manufacturing and skills development. The expansion includes a multibillion-dollar commitment to produce advanced silicon at TSMC’s Fab 21 facility in Arizona, where Apple remains the largest customer. Apple’s suppliers manufacture silicon in 24 factories across 12 states, including Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, and Utah. This investment is expected to boost U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and create high-paying jobs. The company is expanding research and development (R&D) operations, nearly doubling U.S.-based R&D spending over the past five years. Apple plans to hire 20,000 employees over the next four years, focusing on AI, silicon engineering, and software development. Apple’s recent launch of the A18 chip and Apple C1 cellular modem highlights its long-term strategy in custom silicon development. The Apple C1 modem, the most power-efficient modem ever in an iPhone, represents a major milestone in the company’s R&D investment. As part of its focus on workforce development, Apple is opening the Apple Manufacturing Academy in Detroit. The facility will train workers and assist small- and medium-sized businesses in adopting AI and smart manufacturing techniques. Partnering with universities like Michigan State, the academy will offer free courses on project management, supply chain efficiency, and manufacturing process optimization. This article, "Apple to Invest Over $500 Billion in U.S. Expansion, Manufacturing, and AI Development" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Company executives touted the immediate returns from its rebranding and Super Bowl advertising campaign, with February activity exceeding expectations. View the full article

Ryan Donovan, the Council of Federal Home Loan Banks' CEO, foresees affordable housing mandates becoming more focused on home supply than demand. View the full article

OpenAI released a new base model on Thursday called GPT-4.5, which the company said is its best and smartest model for chat yet. It’s not a reasoning model like OpenAI’s o1 and o3 models, but it can be used to train other models to be reasoning models. Notably, GPT-4.5 was trained using 10 times the computing power (scores of GPUs in data centers) than its predecessor, GPT-4o. The result is a model whose outputs feel more natural and human, OpenAI said in its press release, and demonstrate a better general understanding of the world. Its writing and programming skills are better, and it hallucinates less. It also displays a higher level of emotional intelligence about the user and what they’re trying to do. For example, when prompted with “I’m going through a tough time after failing a test,” the model responded: “Aw, I’m really sorry to hear that. Failing a test can feel pretty tough and discouraging, but remember, it’s just one moment—not a reflection of who you are or your capabilities.” OpenAI cofounder and former researcher Andrej Karpathy, who got early access to the model, posted on X that the improvements are subtle but meaningful. “Everything is a little bit better and it’s awesome, but also not exactly in ways that are trivial to point to,” Karpathy continued; also, the model appears to have improved by 20% in everything it does rather than improving by several times over in certain domains or skills. OpenAI said GPT-4.5’s performance proves that supersizing models, training data, and computing power can still produce significant performance gains. However, a debate has been raging over this assertion on X. Karpathy saw evidence of this in his tests: “[I]t is incredibly interesting and exciting as another qualitative measurement of a certain slope of capability that comes ‘for free’ from just pretraining a bigger model.” Of course, “free” is stretching it: Training costs for a model as big as GPT-4.5 could approach $1 billion. OpenAI is releasing GPT-4.5 as a research preview to ChatGPT Pro users and to developers who pay to access OpenAI models through an API. It will become available to ChatGPT Plus and Team users next week, the company says. View the full article