There Are No Winners, Only Losers in the Timnit Gebru-Google Situation

So, Google is in the news this week, and not in a good way. The company fired Timnit Gebru, co-leader of its Ethical Artificial Intelligence team, and her release to the marketplace was not amiable. Gebru announced her departure on Twitter after it happened, and immediately made it clear that it was hinky. She said …

If Cookies Don’t Bring Cash, What Are They Doing with Our Data?

So, according to the Wall Street Journal, all of the cookies that companies drop all over your computer – the ones that track your every online move and then report it to whichever advertiser ponies up the coins for your data – aren’t actually bringing in all that much revenue. The WSJ piece references a study …

Meghan Markle, the Media and Our Vanishing Rights to Privacy, Decency and Giving Birth Without Photo Shoots

Several things happened this week that have me thinking our perspective on the power of the media is skewed. It’s real, no doubt, but we’re missing something really basic. That might sound strange coming from a member of the media. But I like to think of myself as a different kind of journalist in that, …

Nipsey Hussle: Short Life, Untimely Death, Enduring, Undeniably Positive Legacy

Nipsey Hussle died this week. Or, he was shot and killed this week. I didn’t know much about him. I’d never listened to any of his music until it came time to write this blog, and I thought it was a fitting sound track. My first exposure to him was through Gary Vaynerchuk of all …