Business, Spoken

There’s a trust crisis afoot. Earlier this week, Edelman’s annual Trust Barometer report suggested that trust is collapsing in America. In a survey of 33,000 people across more than 28 countries, only a third of Americans responded that they trust the government, a 14 percentage point decline from last year. Fewer than half of us trust the media. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Fired Google engineer James Damore says he was vilified and harassed for questioning what he calls the company’s liberal political orthodoxy, particularly around the merits of diversity. Now, outspoken diversity advocates at Google say that they are being targeted by a small group of their coworkers, in an effort to silence discussions about racial and gender diversity. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

In 1978 a young woman named Maria Klawe arrived at the University of Toronto to pursue a doctorate in computer science. She had never used a computer—much less written a line of code—but she had a PhD in math and a drive to succeed in a male-dominated field. She was so good that, nine months later, the university asked her to be a professor. Today, however, computer science is one of the few STEM fields in which the number of women has been steadily decreasing since the ’80s. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Amazon's list of finalists for the location of its second headquarters holds few surprises. Following months of hype in cities and small towns across America, the 20 that made the final cut are altogether expected—major business centers and transit hubs like New York, Boston, Atlanta, and Los Angeles, mixed in with some political powerhouses, like Washington, DC and Northern Virginia. Amazon's picks for its so-called HQ2 are, with a few exceptions, already thriving. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Do you trust me? Do you trust what you are about to read, assuming you keep reading? (Keep reading!) Do you believe that I comported myself ethically during my reporting, did not make anything up, did not use the work of others without credit? Let me put that another way: Do you trust that this article will make you feel better, or correct, about the world? Do you think that I, as the writer, have some connection to you, as part of a community? That I want you to be informed, sure, but also protected? Both of those paragraphs define trust, but very differently. Which makes it both troubling and a... Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Last year’s national conversation about sexual harassment in the workplace began in the tech industry. In the months that followed Susan J. Fowler’s February blog post about sexual harassment at Uber, a number of well-known tech executives---particularly, venture capitalists and startup executives---were ousted from positions of power after allegations of harassment and sexual misconduct. But with the October downfall of Harvey Weinstein, Hollywood took the lead on the conversation. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

As a candidate for president, Donald J. Trump scarcely mentioned the word "tech." One year since he took the oath of office, that hasn't changed much. And yet just a year in, the Trump administration has shaped policy in ways that will radically alter the country's long-term ability to innovate—and often not for the better. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

There comes a time in every hyped-up business trend’s life cycle when the noise becomes so intense it’s comical. Cryptocurrency, bitcoin, and most important, the blockchain technology that underlies them, have reached that moment. Executives in just about any industry imaginable—music, advertising, medicine, pizza delivery—are now eager to discuss how they can capitalize on “the blockchain.” (Note to execs: There are many blockchains, not just “the one. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

As if there wasn’t enough angst in the world, what with the Washington soap opera, #MeToo, false nuclear alerts, and a general sense of apprehension, now we also have a growing sense of alarm about how smartphones and their applications are impacting children. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Mark Zuckerberg promised to spend 2018 fixing Facebook. Last week, he addressed Facebook making you feel bad. Now he’s onto fake news. Late Friday, Facebook buried another major announcement at the end of the week: How to make sure that users see high-quality news on Facebook. Facebook’s solution? Let its users decide what to trust. On the difficult problem of fixing fake news, Zuckerberg took the path with the least responsibility for Facebook, but described it as the most objective. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices