When customers call your service company, it’s for one thing — your expertise. They don’t want a price, the problem fixed, the fast and cheap solution, etc. like many technicians think. They want good information and possibly a little guidance to make a good decision.

Friedrich recently sponsored a NEWS webinar titled “Ductless Split System Innovations That Matter to Your Bottom Line.”  Below are questions taken from the Q&A portion of that webinar.

In this episode we talk to Matthew Wall (Guardian News and Media) and Erik Doernenburg (Thoughtworks) about their work on the new guardian.co.uk website. We discuss the challenge of scalability and interactivity, their use of Domain Driven Design, some of the technical building blocks as well as the approaches they use for performance measuring and scalability tuning.

Matt Lacey, author of the Usability Matters book discusses what mobile app usability is and why it can make or break an app destined for consumers, business users or in-house users and what you can do to make the best app possible.

Matt Arbesfeld, cofounder of LogRocket, discusses the benefits and drawbacks of starting a software company as a software engineer, including finding cofounders, fundraising, and determining what ideas are worth pursuing.

Matt Butcher and Matt Farina, authors of the book Learning Helm join SE Radio host Robert Blumen to discuss Helm, the package manager for kubernetes. Beginning with a review of kubernetes and Helm, this episode explores the history of helm;...

Matt Frisbie, author of Building Browser Extensions, speaks with host Kanchan Shringi about browser extensions, including key areas where they've been successful. Based on Matt’s experience as a developer working for Google, Doordash, and a startup he founded, they examine tools for building extensions, as well as APIs they have access to. The conversation presents detailed issues such as cross-browser compatibilities to keep in mind when developing extensions and mechanisms in the browser to prevent security vulnerabilities, and finally examines how emerging platforms can help developers take advantage of exciting new possibilities with web extensions.

Can organized labor continue its recent momentum into the next presidential administration?

Assistant Prof Yeo Su Lin – Death is a part of life. However, people often feel awkward and ill at ease when faced with the opportunity for communication at the end of life. While talking about death and dying may not be comfortable for some, research has shown that having these conversations within families and communities, and with our healthcare provider can help prepare us emotionally for our deaths and that of others, and better ensure that we will receive the care and treatment that we prefer at the end of life. Yeo Su Lin is an Assistant Professor of Corporate Communication at SMU’s Lee Kong Chian School of Business. Her research focuses on corporate reputation, crisis management and health communication. In this podcast, she discusses a recent nationwide study which was conducted to better understand end-of-life communication and sentiments towards palliative care in Singapore.

Toray Plastics (America) Inc. introduces new Lumirror® STM Soft-Touch Matte film, a unique, matte-coated polyester film technology that simplifies processing and enables the manufacture of a robust, upscale, soft-touch matte lamination.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In response to ACA Connects President and CEO Matt Polka stepping down, the following statement can be attributed to NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt:

Forget the hype! A panel of working architects share their insight into the trends and technologies that will have the greatest impact on their work in 2013.

The panel of working architects discusses the trends, technologies, and other aspects of enterprise IT that will lose steam in 2013.

The panel of working architects discusses how the evolution of enterprise IT is profoundly reshaping the IT architecture profession.

JavaOne 2022 Speaker Preview

In this conversation Oracle's Jim Grisanzio talks with JavaOne 2022 speaker Matt Raible from Colorado.

Matt is a Java Champion, a Duke's Choice Award winner, and Open Source developer, and a developer advocate. He previews his session at JavaOne on Micro Frontends for Java Developers. The conversation also gets into the Java community, how Matt got into development, and his contributions to the Open Source community. 

JavaOne 2022 October 17-20 in Las Vegas

• JavaOne 2022: Registration and Sessions
• JavaOne 2022: News Updates at Inside Java

Matt Raible, Java Champion, Open Source Developer at OktaDev

• @mraible

Java Development and Community

• OpenJDK
• Inside Java
• Dev.Java
• @java on Twitter
• Java on YouTube

Duke's Corner Podcast Host

• Jim Grisanzio, Oracle Java Developer Relations, @jimgris

Good price on a gooseneck. Great for pourovers.

• Matte black gooseneck kettle
• Design allows for precision pours
• 0.6L Capacity
• 360° Rotating base
• LED Light on/off switch
• Dry boil protection
• Strix control
• Cord storage

Something bad is happening in Oz.

Last week, fans of Wicked, the musical-soon-to-be-movie, headed to retailers including Target, Walmart, and Macy’s to pick up Mattel’s limited-edition Wicked Barbie dolls ahead of the film’s release on November 22. At first, it seemed like any other Mattel collaboration—until a few fans started searching the URL printed on the back of the box, which led not to the Wicked movie website, as intended, but to a parody porn site of the same name. 

Mattel has apologized for the mix-up and promised to “remedy” the error, but that hasn’t stopped fans from speculating about how such an egregious typo could’ve made its way to the box in the first place. One popular theory, which has garnered more than 62,000 likes on X, is that the mistake had something to do with AI.

In an email to Fast Company, Mattel’s Barbie & Dolls director of global brand communications wrote, “I can confirm AI was not used on packaging for Mattel Wicked collection dolls.”

Though AI has been the culprit of plenty of misguided marketing snafus, the tweet demonstrates a misunderstanding of how Mattel is actually using AI tools in its packaging development process—and shows that, even as AI gains popularity with creative teams as a production tool, human error is alive and well.

The official Mattel Wicked dolls link to a porn site on the box ???????? pic.twitter.com/iW4mNVAlPE

— just2good (Sarah Genao) (@just2goodYT) November 9, 2024

Can we blame a chatbot for this?

In June, Fast Company covered Mattel’s announcement that it planned to use Adobe Firefly, a generative AI software, as part of its packaging development process. At the time, Mattel’s chief design officer Chris Down clarified that the tech would be used to help visualize fantastical new concepts and speed up time-consuming processes, like fine-tuning a background in Photoshop. The company’s guidelines around generative AI tools specified that Firefly could not be used to generate subject matter itself, like the actual doll (or, in this case, the accompanying text). 

Nevertheless, an X user shared Fast Company’s original headline alongside the news of the Wicked typo with the caption “Smash cut to four months later.” One commenter under the post wrote, “how did I know this mistake happened bc they’re using AI.” Another added, “The future is so, so dumb.”

Mattel has previously been open about how it’s used AI for doll packaging. In early October, the first Mattel packaging featuring input from Adobe Firefly hit shelves. The company explained to AdAge at the time that its new Holiday Barbie and Sue Bird Barbie packages incorporated backgrounds generated by Firefly, which had then been touched up by human designers. It’s important to note that, for a brand as wide-reaching as Mattel, AI is not being used in the design process without guardrails around both IP and image quality. Any visuals provided by Firefly are vetted and edited by multiple human designers before they ever reach the actual box.

At this stage, it’s highly unlikely that Mattel would trust an AI software to write the final copy for their packaging. It appears that the Wicked Barbie typo was a plain old instance of human error—if a somewhat inconceivable one. As of this writing, Mattel hasn’t responded to Fast Company‘s request for comment on how the mistake may have been made during the design process.

The fallout

In a statement on the Wicked packaging misprint, Mattel shared, “We deeply regret this unfortunate error and are taking immediate action to remedy this. Parents are advised that the misprinted, incorrect website is not appropriate for children. Consumers who already have the product are advised to discard the product packaging or obscure the link and may contact Mattel Customer Service for further information.” 

While it’s unclear exactly what steps Mattel plans to take to “remedy” the issue, retailers including Target, Walmart, Amazon, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, and Macy’s had already pulled the dolls from shelves as of midday Monday. 

Meanwhile, there are a few parties benefitting from the unfortunate situation. Variety reports that the mistakenly shared porn site has seen a 12-year surge in traffic after the incident, and several eBay users have taken this opportunity to massively mark up their Wicked dolls in original packaging. One pack of seven different dolls, advertised as “IN MISPRINT ERROR BOX,” is currently going for $3,500. 

Mattel is sure to take a financial and reputational hit from this incident. Still, the news pick-up, social media speculation, and pricey eBay reselling demonstrate how a simple mistake can turn a run-of-the-mill product drop into something fans will remember—for better or worse.

Lithoz to showcase ceramic 3D printed filtration technology at Formnext  VoxelMatters

2023 Young Gun Matthew Jaynes may be a newcomer to the roofing industry, but he's already making waves with KPost Roofing and Waterproofing's residential division.

Un error tipográfico en las cajas ha envuelto a la empresa de juguetes en una gran polémica que asegura que tomará "acciones inmediatas para remediarlo" Leer

Some 20,000 civilian employees work in the organic industrial base, supplying DoD with items it can't get from industry in enough quantity or not not at all.

The post These rarely seen DoD civilians matter a lot in times of war first appeared on Federal News Network.

I'm not sure what's more impressive, the Apple's new M3 chips or the fact that the entire was shot using iPhone 15 Pro Maxes. #apple #iphone15promax #scaryfast #mac

Library - Art Library, Location - OSIZ, Call number - FOLIO TR183 .M38 2016

Location: Sciences Library Library- QH501.C376 2016

The other prominent unrestricted free agent for the Capitals this summer is Matt Hendricks. The veteran winger has set himself up for the one big contract in his NHL career.

There aren’t a ton of internal decisions for Capitals general manager George McPhee to make this summer. He has four unrestricted free agents pending July 5. Defenseman Tom Poti and forward Wojtek Wolski won’t be back for sure. We’re unclear on the status of forwards Matt Hendricks and Mike Ribeiro.

The Stranger's only news round-up. by Nathalie Graham

International District stabbings: On Friday, someone stabbed five people in what appears to be a random, unprovoked attack in Seattle's Chinatown International District. The same person is believed to be responsible for other stabbings in the neighborhood that occurred between Thursday and Friday. In total, police believe the suspect stabbed nine victims in two days. Police arrested the suspect on Friday. His bail was set for $2 million.

Back at it: Around 300 people gathered over the weekend at the Space Needle for a rally against Donald Trump's re-election. It feels like we were protesting Donald Trump's presidency just yesterday. Time is a flat circle when your country keeps electing a fascist.  

Hundreds of immigrants, students, activists and union workers are protesting in Seattle against U.S. imperialism, violent policies against migrants, police violence and structural economic violence and exploitation by the capitalist class. pic.twitter.com/dZ9JFFPAii

— Guy Oron (@GuyOron) November 9, 2024

Wet, wet, wet: The rain is here. I hope you like it. 

????️ Showers are here to stay, with wet conditions on track through the week. #WAwx pic.twitter.com/0yM2lMdZH7

— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) November 11, 2024

Income tax when? According to 2023 census data, the median wages for tech workers in the Seattle area last year was about $157,200. That's a $14,000 increase from 2022's tech-worker wage estimate, according to the Seattle Times' FYI Guy. Meanwhile, the median income for non-tech workers in Seattle was about $81,100 and only bumped up a measly $2,800 since 2022. 

Vaccinate your kids: Stop being stupid and get your kids their shots. Whooping cough is on the rise with nearly 1,200 cases documented statewide. Of those cases, over 80% are in children. "This is just the tip of the iceberg. We’re starting to see the impact of waning immunization," Dr. James Lewis, a health officer with the Snohomish County Health Department, told KIRO7. 

Help SIFF staff out: Go see a secret staff pick on Wednesday and throw a few bucks in the kitty to help support SIFF workers who are out of a job now that the Egyptian Theater out of commission. 

A pipe burst at The Egyptian and SIFF staff need our community’s support!

Join us on November 13th at 7pm for a free screening of a VERY secret and VERY good movie. Tickets are free, but please donate to the fundraiser linked on our web page! https://t.co/AjQjZHaWJf pic.twitter.com/GLANjC3Hrs

— Northwest Film Forum (@nwfilmforum) November 9, 2024

Analysis suggests Gaza dead are mostly women and children: New analysis from the United Nations Human Rights Office found that 70% of those killed by Israel in Gaza were women and children. The UN verified the details of 8,119 people killed in Gaza from November 2023 to April 2024. Of them, 26 percent were women. Around 44 percent were children, most commonly between five and nine years old. The report said the data indicates "an apparent indifference to the death of civilians and the impact of the means and methods of warfare." 

Wildfire to the East: Dry, windy conditions are to blame for a brush fire in New Jersey that now covers 39 acres. The blaze is currently 30% contained. Meanwhile, at least six more fires are burning in the state. And at the same time, two acres burned in the middle of Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, killing a teenage park ranger. Wildfires have increased in east coast states thanks to historic droughts. Boston to New York City and Philadelphia to Washington, D.C are under red flag warnings. The bad news is everything is going to get worse thanks to who we elected president. 

Meanwhile: A California blaze tearing through Ventura County is 31% contained and still covers 32 square miles.

Trump chooses UN ambassador: New York Rep. Elise Stefanik has been chosen to fill the role. Stefanik, who serves as House Republican Conference Chair, is a Trump loyalist with little foreign policy experience. Trump called her a “strong, tough, and smart America First fighter.” 

Bird flu in Canada: The first presumptive case of bird flu in a human has been identified in British Columbia. The infected person is a teenager who likely contracted the illness from contact with animals. So far, the virus hasn't spread from human to human. 

Another abortion horror story: A woman in Georgia was 18 weeks pregnant with her second child when she miscarried. Despite her bleeding and her risk of serious infection, doctors could not perform a routine dilation and curettage due to abortion laws. They had to wait 24 hours or until the woman seemed like she might die unless she received the surgery. Sure enough, they waited until her hemoglobin levels were perilously low and then operated. While she survived, the pain and fear she went through was not medically necessary. Her pain was legislated.

Wicked whoopsie: Mattel released special dolls for the new Wicked movie. On the bottom of the packaging, Mattel listed "Wicked.com" to drive people to the movie site. Only Wicked.com is a porn site that makes parody porn movies. Mattel said sorry. 

A song for your Monday: You like to groove, right?

Matthew Herbert albums have become increasingly more massive and detailed over the course of the past decade. His most recent work has not only involved huge orchestral arrangements, but incredibly detailed sound sampling as well. There's Me And There's You is no different, with epic listings of different source samples that help reinforce the political and social issues that Herbert has been tackling for some time now. This newest effort also finds him collaborating for the first time with London-based singer Eska Mtungwazi, who seems to have a bit more jazz chops than his long-time partner Dani Siciliano, but is also a bit more over-the-top.

After declaring that he is 'focusing' on his romance with his final rose recipient, the season 25 star of 'The Bachelor' is caught on camera wrapping his arm lovingly around her during an outing.

Festival explores life and death through cafes, catacombs and caterpillars.

Magniflex, an Italian luxury mattress brand, is expanding its reach in India, especially in tier 2 and 3 cities. The company, which already has a network in major cities, aims to cater to the rising demand for wellness-oriented products.

Matthew Ezeh Brass Instructor MATTHEW EZEH is an accomplished trombonist/brass/music educator. Matthew received his degree in Music Education from Mercer University in 2020 and studied trombone under Hollie Lawing-Pritchard. He […]

The podcasting industry has grown a lot since its birth in 2004, but the core of what a podcast could be and what it could do hasn't changed much. Now, Podcasting 2.0 revolutionizes the industry with highly requested innovations that will help everyone on all sides of the RSS feeds.

The post What Is Podcasting 2.0 and Why Does It Matter? first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

You might have heard people talk about IAB podcast stats, measurement guidelines, compliance, and certification. Here's what all of that means, and whether it even matters!

The post Do IAB-Certified Stats Matter for Your Podcast? first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

On Thursday, November 14, industry thought leader Erin Firneno will moderate the panel "Measurement Matters: Delivering Better Audience Data to Streaming Advertisers." The promise of streaming as a boon to advertisers has always been its potential to help them target audiences more precisely by delivering more substantive audience data than broadcast can offer. But even as streaming's audience share has grown to justify substantial migration of CTV ad dollars from broadcast to digital, when it comes to quantifying audiences and measuring engagement, the lack of consistent and easily translatable measurement standards?not to mention the sheer number of measurement options?continues to frustrate ad buyers. How can streaming move toward the proposed "single source of truth," or is that even the answer? Confirmed panelists include experts from Vevo, Warner Bros Discovery, and Revry.

I'm listening to NPR's streaming "First Listen" of Cibo Matto's "Emerald Tuesday," off the forthcoming Hotel Valentine, and I know this song it's sampling from the first note. (And I think that's the point of the lyrics, that the ghost in the song listened/listens to the sampled song all the time.) I feel like it's also something my husband listens to all the time, or that was in a movie I just saw, but I can't pin it down. My first thought was Curtis Mayfield, but I'm not finding it. I know it's going to seem obvious to me once you tell me, but nonetheless—help! What is that song?

Growing up in St. Paul, Minn., Rashad Turner remembers playing cops and robbers. It was always a given which side he'd choose. "We'd ride our bikes," he says. "I'd always be the cop." He always knew. It was that way for years. He trained for it. He got a bachelor's in criminal justice. He enrolled in the police academy. All because he wanted to help. To him, the cops were the good guys. Turner is 35 now. When he was two years old, a man shot and killed his father in an alley during a dispute. No one should lose a parent that way, he thought. And policing was one way to protect a community. "I had this idea of the Officer Friendly that came to our school," he says. "Like, that was all cops." His friends didn't always get it, he says. Some of them quit him. In the African American neighborhoods he moved in, there had been too many bad run-ins with police. But back then, Turner was used to defending law enforcement. Not so much anymore. Five years ago, he founded a chapter of Black Lives

While the deaths of Travon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Sandra Bland galvanized the #BlackLivesMatter movement, the killings of Rayshard Brooks, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery have forced America to reckon with centuries of racial injustice and police brutality in unprecedented ways. Not only have protests demanding change been widespread, but major corporations — which, until now, have been largely silent and hesitant to embrace Black Lives Matter — are pledging to fight racial injustice and declaring their support of the nearly seven-year-old movement. We discuss the significance of those corporate responses, as well as new challenges these companies face to commit to righting past wrongs.

While the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Sandra Bland galvanized the #BlackLivesMatter movement, the killings of Rayshard Brooks, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery have forced America to reckon with centuries of racial injustice and police brutality in unprecedented ways. Not only have protests demanding change been widespread, but major corporations — which, until now, have been largely silent and hesitant to embrace Black Lives Matter — are pledging to fight racial injustice and declaring their support of the nearly seven-year-old movement.

As a child, Welsh actor Matthew Rhys fell in love with old American noir films — so much so that he'd sometimes channel iconic movie stars. "There were moments when I was pulling the last drag on my cigarette and then ... trying to casually throw a one liner," Rhys says. "[Humphrey Bogart] was in my head a lot vocally." Rhys plays the title role in the new HBO series, Perry Mason. His version of the iconic criminal defense attorney is younger and more hardboiled than the one Raymond Burr played in the popular TV show from the '50s and '60s. The new series focuses on Mason as a divorced private investigator in the early 1930s in Los Angeles — before he became a lawyer. "He's a man who kind of lives on whiskey and cigarettes," Rhys says of his version of Mason. "I was getting to fulfill a number of romantic notions in my inner child." Rhys lost weight for the role. He says it wasn't a significant amount — just enough to thin out his face: "It was one of the things I remember seeing a lot

Copyright 2020 WABE 90.1. To see more, visit WABE 90.1 .

Special guest Matthew Panzarino joins the show to talk about WWDC 2020.

Matthew Panzarino joins the show to talk about Apple's new AirPods Max headphones and the future of the Mac on Apple Silicon.

Matthew Panzarino returns to the show. Topics include: Apple’s new MagSafe Battery Pack, the Amnesty-International-Led exposé of NSO Group’s state-sponsored phone hacking, Safari 15’s controversial new UI and Apple’s response, and a look back at year one of Apple silicon for Macs. Also: pizza.

Matthew Panzarino returns to the show to talk about the new iPhones 13 and their camera systems.

Matthew Panzarino returns to the show to talk about Apple's new Mac Studio and Studio Display.

Matthew Panzarino returns to the show for a post-WWDC discussion about Vision Pro and VisionOS.

Matthew Panzarino returns to the show to talk about the new iPhones 15.