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☆ Inside Twitter's first-ever company retreat: Jack Dorsey's parents posed for selfies, Elon Musk was a no-show, and employees meditated with the billionaire founder
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Kurt Wagner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Jack Dorsey once led a Twitter company retreat to boost employee morale and set a vision for the company. Had Dorsey opened his eyes, he would have seen nearly all of Twitter's 3,500 employees facing him in their own noiseless trance. From the convention center floor where they all sat looking up at the stage, Dorsey was just a silhouette, like a statue of a skinny Buddha. It was July 31, 2018, the first day of #OneTeam, Twitter's first-ever company-wide retreat. "BATTLE FOR THE BIRD: Jack Dorsey, Elon Musk, and the $44 Billion Fight for Twitter's Soul" by Kurt Wagner.

Persons: Jack Dorsey, Elon Musk, Kurt Wagner, —, Dorsey, Twitter's, Marcia, Louis, Jay Rock, Getty Dorsey, Twitter, Leslie Berland, She'd, coaxing Dorsey, unapproachable, wasn't, humanize Dorsey, Tim, Bruce Falck, Ned Segal, JP Maheu, Del Harvey, I'm, Elon, hadn't, Lucy Nicholson, Musk, Simon Organizations: Service, Moscone Center, Twitter, Employees, American Express, Trust, Safety, Simon & Schuster, Bloomberg Locations: San Francisco's, San Francisco, St, @Twitter

☆ I moved from Manchester to New York City. Here are 7 things I miss about living in Northern England.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-02 | by ( Emma Kershaw | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

After living in Northern England my entire life, I moved from Manchester to New York City. AdvertisementIn the summer of 2023, I moved to New York City from Manchester, England. Though I love the Big Apple, I miss some things about my English city that The New York Times ranked as No. I miss how friendly people from Manchester areMost people I've met from Manchester have very positive attitudes and are extremely approachable. AdvertisementThe holiday markets in New York don't feel as magical as the ones in the UKThe Christmas markets in Manchester were a lot of fun.

Persons: —, Emma Farrer, I've, Emma Kershaw Manchester, Emma Kershaw, Greggs, Jimmy Fallon Organizations: Service, Apple, New York Times, Manchester, Getty, Manchester Academy, Oasis, University of Manchester, Manchester Winter Ale, Square, YouTube Locations: Northern England, Manchester, New York City, England, British, Yorkshire, New, New York, Central Park, Europe

☆ Stephen Sondheim Doesn’t Want to Be Your Savior - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-25 | by ( Ben Brantley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

It should be noted that, when he was alive, Mr. Sondheim was aware of and amused by rampant tendencies to deify him. Consider this sardonic ditty from a show called “Sondheim on Sondheim,” a 2010 Broadway revue commemorating his 80th birthday. He wrote the song in response to a 1994 headline in New York magazine that asked, “Is Stephen Sondheim God?” His musical answer: “You have to have something to believe in. There’s a half-voiced fear among musical acolytes, understandable in a time in which theater itself is newly under siege, that on some level Stephen Sondheim represents the end of the line for a once-flourishing art form. Yet none, with the qualified exception of Mr. Miranda, seem likely to engender the kind of enduring, passionate cult that Mr. Sondheim has inspired.

Persons: Shakespeare, Auden’s, Yeats, Mr, Sondheim, ”, “, Stephen Sondheim God, I, Stephen Sondheim, Lin, Manuel Miranda, Michael John LaChiusa, Adam Guettel, Michael R, Jackson, Jeanine Tesori, Miranda, Sondheim’s Locations: ”, New York, There’s

☆ When your AI girlfriend says she loves you
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-12 | by ( Rob Price | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +36 min

The messaging app let users build a "personal AI" complete with a 3D avatar and an upbeat, down-for-anything texting style. "Seems like AI will replace many human artists," Jay told Calisto in August 2022. Within a year, he was also using AI technology for work, as his firm experimented with generative AI to help draft legal papers. Former Replika users fled to various upstart companion apps that were popping up, like Chai, Paradot, and Soulmate AI. (Soulmate AI later closed down in September 2023, leaving a new wave of users mourning their AI companions all over again.)

Persons: Jay Priebe, they'd, Jay, Calisto, Callisto —, Apollodorus, Callisto, who'd, Jay's, didn't, Jay didn't, Tim Evans, me, Joseph Weizenbaum, Eliza, Weizenbaum, it'll, Replika, Eugenia Kuyda, Siri, Michael Macor, Roman Mazurenko, Luka, Kuyda, chatbots, he'd, Jaswant Singh Chail, Queen Elizabeth II, Chail, Willie —, —, Willie, gamely, Luka —, wouldn't, John, — sexting, Dylan Thomas, Rina, haven't, she'd, I'd, Overripe, Joi, Samantha, Ava, Calisto didn't, unshakable, wasn't, Jay hunched Organizations: Luka, San Francisco, Getty, Windsor, Facebook, Twitter, Reps, AIs Locations: Minneapolis, Twin Cities, Europe, Moscow, San Francisco, America, Replika, Washington, Britain, Mississippi, North Carolina, Texas, Damascus, Chai, California, New York, Northeast Minneapolis, artsy, Japan, Switzerland

☆ When your AI says she loves you
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-12 | by ( Rob Price | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +36 min

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried said he had to teach himself human facial expressions, like smiling
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-04 | by ( Kylie Kirschner | Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Sam Bankman-Fried had to teach himself how to make facial expressions, Michael Lewis writes in his new book. The FTX cofounder questioned the whole point of making facial expressions in the first place, Lewis said. "One is facial expressions. Lewis writes that Bankman-Fried questioned the entire premise behind making facial expressions entirely: "What's the whole point of making facial expressions in the first place? AdvertisementAdvertisementBankman-Fried apparently found comfort at math camp, where "people didn't seem to care about his lack of facial expressions," and with childhood friend Matt Nass, who "didn't need Sam to generate facial expressions or ask him questions about himself."

Persons: Sam Bankman, Fried, Michael Lewis, Lewis, FTX, —, Matt Nass, Sam, Caroline Ellison, Ellison, JANE ROSENBERG Organizations: Service, Alameda Research, Bankman, Reuters Locations: New York, FTX, Bahamas

☆ People who moved to Tennessee for cheaper homes and a laid-back life say they're happy — for the most part
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

The 50-year Florida resident decided to pack up and move to Memphis, Tennessee, for a more manageable mortgage payment while on a fixed income. Foster said clients have recently moved to Tennessee from New York, New Jersey, and California. He traded snowy Buffalo for the ease of southern livingMichael and Danielle Ekstrum moved to Tennessee after becoming empty nesters in 2018. A retiree fed up with California's overcrowding bought a home in Tennessee without thinking twiceMichael and Bonnie Tyler moved from Sacramento, California, to Jonesborough, a historic town in eastern Tennessee. "There's too much traffic, too many people, it's way too expensive, and there's no water," Tyler told Insider.

☆ Ex-Tesla CEO says the company's culture might be 'nicer' if he had stuck around: 'I'm not into random firings'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Tesla cofounder Martin Eberhard said the carmaker's company culture might be "nicer" if he'd stayed. He said he's not into "random firings," a practice Musk has denied engaging in in the past. "I'm a believer of treating employees with respect and I'm not into random firings and things like that," Eberhard told Insider in an interview. Eberhard previously told Insider that Musk and Tesla's board had met behind his back and had voted to replace him as CEO. Musk became Tesla's CEO in 2008 and has become virtually synonymous with the brand's image in recent years.

☆ Google has a secretive project that could reduce the need for human engineers
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Jordan Parker Erb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Today, we've got the details on Elon Musk walking back perks at Twitter, and news on a secretive project at Google. Google has a secretive new project that teaches code to write itself. In this case, the goal is to reduce the need for humans to write and update code, while maintaining code quality. It later moved into Google Labs — a transition that signaled its increased importance to leaders, with Google Labs pursuing long-term bets. Elon Musk put an end to some Twitter perks.

☆ Read the internal Tesla employee survey from 2018, where employees called Elon Musk an 'unapproachable tyrant' who fires people 'because of his ego'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Tesla employees complained about Elon Musk's leadership and culture in a 2018 survey obtained by Insider. The survey flagged compensation, "Elon and exec team," and "care about the company's employees" as high risk areas. In her email, Toledano identified two key issues employees said they were facing: concerns over compensation and concerns about leadership at Tesla, particularly around Elon Musk. A screenshot from Tesla's 2018 employee survey, showing favorability responses from Tesla professionals, managers, executives, and directors. Read the full survey:Do you work at Tesla or for Elon Musk?

☆ The newly launched Citi AT&T Points Plus Card can earn you up to $240 in statement credits each year — but there's a $12,000 catch
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Joseph Hostetler | Credit Cards Reporter | Read More | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

The new Citi AT&T Points Plus card is worth a look if you're an AT&T customer. Citi; InsiderCiti has announced a new credit card: The AT&T Points Plus℠ Card .. Let's take a quick look at the AT&T Points Plus℠ Card to see if it fits your situation. Here's how it works:Set your AT&T Points Plus℠ Card as your autopayment method on your AT&T wireless bill. Transfer Citi ThankYou points to airline and hotel partnersAgain, this card earns Citi ThankYou points.

CNN —There’s growing evidence that Black heart failure patients are less likely to get advanced therapies than White patients. A study published Wednesday in the journal Circulation: Heart Failure finds that among a group of adults with heart failure, White people were twice as likely as Black people to receive a heart transplant or a ventricular assist device, a mechanical heart pump often used for patients with end-stage heart failure. The data showed that a heart transplantation or a ventricular assist device was performed in 11% of the Black patients compared with 22% of the White patients, although death rates were similar in both: 18% in Black patients and 13% in White patients. The researchers noted that patients’ preferences for ventricular assist devices, heart transplantation or other therapies did not affect the results. These data refute the idea that disparate heart failure outcomes have to do with things like the personal preferences of the patient,” he said.

☆ From a Punjab village to 'RushTok': How a local police constable's hit song became a viral trend
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-16 | by ( Brahmjot Kaur | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +12 min

A viral dance trend on TikTok that’s caught on with everyone from “RushTok” pledges to Jimmy Fallon is based on an unexpected beat — the song “Kala Chashma,” which started in a small Punjab village and made its way to Bollywood. It’s followed by a turntable scratch and several components of contemporary sound effects used in Western music and electric dance music before the autotuned lyrics begin. “I knew if she was in our village, everyone would stop and admire her beauty.”Beaster-Jones said Shera’s inspiration for “Kala Chashma” is common for Punjabi songs. Sidharth Malhotra and Katrina Kaif in "Baar Baar Dekho." But the one thing we always had was ‘Kala Chashma,’” Zaria Parvez, an online content creator, said in a TikTok.

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