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In this episode of ACM ByteCast, Rashmi Mohan hosts 2025 ACM Fellow Cynthia Rudin, the Gilbert, Louis, and Edward Lehrman Distinguished Professor of Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Statistical Science, Mathematics, and Biostatistics and Bioinformatics at Duke University, where she leads the Interpretable Machine Learning Lab. Her lab, which seeks to design predictive ML models that people can understand, focuses on areas including healthcare, criminal justice, and energy reliability. Among her honors, she has received the Squirrel Award for Artificial Intelligence from the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), as well as the IJCAI John McCarthy Award. Rudin was recently named an ACM Fellow for contributions to and leadership in interpretable machine learning and societal applications. In the interview, Cynthia clarifies the crucial distinction between "interpretable" and “explainable" AI and makes the argument that true interpretability is foundational to trustworthy, ethical AI. She shares her extensive field experience collaborating with Con Edison engineers on power grid maintenance, neurologists on medical diagnostics, and the Cambridge Police Department on crime series detection, countering the widespread industry myth that AI performance must be sacrificed for transparency. She describes an innovative paradigm her lab developed to solve the "interaction bottleneck" between data scientists and domain experts, leveraging "Rashomon sets" to generate millions of equally accurate models simultaneously, using human-computer interaction (HCI) tools to create visual, encyclopedia-like interfaces.
This podcast is a recording of a webinar presented by Oonagh Gilvarry, Chief Research Officer at HCI. Oonagh provides an overview of what home support providers can do now to get ahead of regulation. While the standards are still in development, many of the core expectations are already clear. Existing regulatory requirements around safeguarding, incident and complaint management, infection prevention and control (IPC), and HSE guidance are unlikely to change, and providers can begin implementing these immediately. Learn more about HCI's supports at hci.care.
Alan Ashby, senior director of Americas data center presales and specialty sales at Dell. Today’s episode of In The Channel comes to you from the floor of Dell Technologies World 2026, where the expansion of the Dell AI Factory has been dominating the headlines. But what does that mean for partners who aren’t selling multi-million dollar deployments to the Fortune 500? To find out, we sat down with Alan Ashby, senior director of Americas data center presales and specialty sales at Dell. Ashby breaks down the practical realities of the AI infrastructure boom, explaining how partners can start small by deploying “AI supercomputers” like the Dell Pro Max GB10 directly to SMB desktops to unlock local, highly secure agentic AI workflows. We also dive into the economics of on-prem AI versus the public cloud, how partners can help customers escape “prototype purgatory” by narrowing their focus, and the massive opportunity remaining in traditional data center modernization—including the staggering claim that Dell’s new 18G platforms can consolidate 13 legacy servers into one. We also touch on how Dell is leveraging its Customer Solution Centers to help partners de-risk these complex deployments before the customer signs the PO. Read Full Transcript Robert Dutt: Hello and welcome to In the Channel from ChannelBuzz.ca, bringing news and information to the Canadian IT channel community for the last 16 years. I’m Robert Dutt, editor of ChannelBuzz.ca and your host for the show. We’re coming to you today from the floor of Dell Technologies World in Las Vegas where the expansion of the Dell AI Factory and new agentic AI capabilities have completely dominated the Day 1 headlines. But as we know, the keynote hype doesn’t always translate immediately to the loading dock. To understand how partners are supposed to actually size, architect, and sell these new AI infrastructure solutions, I sat down with Alan Ashby. He’s the senior director of Americas Data Center pre-sales and specialty sales at Dell. We dig into the economics of on-prem AI versus the public cloud, how partners can get mid-market customers started with an AI supercomputer right at their desk, and why the traditional data center refresh is still a massive and highly lucrative play for the channel. Let’s get right into it. My chat with Alan Ashby. Alan, thanks for taking the time. Appreciate it. Alan Ashby: Absolutely. Thanks for having us. Robert Dutt: Americas Data Center pre-sales and specialty sales. That’s a broad title. A lot of ground to cover there. To set the stage for MSPs, solution providers, folks listening to this, what can you tell me about what your team actually does kind of day-to-day when it comes to working with partners around infrastructure and AI solutions? Alan Ashby: Yeah, absolutely. So we’ve got a handful of folks that, you know, we’re aligned and dedicated to the partner ecosystem focused across the Americas. We have a couple of primary roles. So from a pre-sales perspective, helping support our partners from a technical enablement, understanding our product portfolio, understanding how to position the products correctly, both amongst the portfolio itself, but also kind of competitively in the marketplace. We also run what we call a technical account plan with our partners. So, you know, supporting them on their certifications, their enablement motions, etc. And then we also run what we have a program we call Heroes for our partners. So Heroes is our foundational enablement motion for partners. We run in the Americas somewhere between 15 and 30 regional face-to-face sessions every single quarter. Those we’d love to see partners participate in, try to do them all over the country. And those are deep dive sessions, you know, going through products and roadmaps and futures and how to position products, etc. And, you know, those have been an enablement motion for the last several years and been incredibly successful. Robert Dutt: All right. We’re hearing a lot this week, obviously, about the expansion of Dell AI Factory and the idea of bringing AI on-premise to the edge, closer to the enterprise itself. And from an infrastructure perspective, you’ve got PowerRack, the pitch there being you go to live customer workloads from kind of the box to deployed in six hours and change. For a partner who’s trying to sell into the mid-market or the enterprise, you know, how does that kind of speed of value fundamentally change the conversation that they’re having with their customer, whether that’s the CEO, CIO, or the business leader? Alan Ashby: Yeah, I don’t think there’s been a more exciting time for our partners with what the market’s putting out there for us. You know, when we look at, you know, you mentioned the mid-market space, I actually think there’s a massive opportunity for partners to go support those customers, especially with some of the agentic workflow processes that we announced today with some of the platforms. You know, it may not be those 100 million, 200 million dollar opportunities, but almost every single small business and medium business, you know, you start with maybe a product like the Dell Pro Max GB10, and you start there and you start building out that agentic workflows, you know, building out automated dashboards with AI assistance built into it. You know, a lot of great things that a partner could go deliver that everybody can see value in. Sometimes in that mid-market space and small business space, it’s easier to get started on some of these agentic flows because they don’t have data that’s kind of messy. They don’t have legacy debt from a data center infrastructure perspective. And then from a larger enterprise or commercial customer, you know, we have seen a number of very good successes across our partner ecosystem with delivering services and value to our customer sets collectively, you know, to help customers really try to find value through their AI journeys. Understanding and identifying key use cases or workloads that they think they can get value out of it, understanding the infrastructure, the architecture that’s designing it right. You know, early days, you know, we had a lot of times where, you know, customers and partners struggle with just, you know, how do we deploy this thing because power and cooling needs are maybe bigger than what I was expecting and, you know, managing through that challenge. So partners have a phenomenal opportunity, I think, to help provide that value to our customers collectively together. You know, every one of our partners, they bring a unique skill set and differentiators on their own to the marketplace and help support those customers to that kind of their own journeys together. Robert Dutt: What is that infrastructure pitch down to that, especially that mid-market or even SMB customer? In the past, there was interest in doing it, I think often they would end up, if they were going to do it, doing it on public cloud, because the alternative was a big old infrastructure solution that doesn’t really fit them, unless maybe a partner can bring it on and kind of do a multi-tenant kind of situation there. But where are we at in terms of having right-fit infrastructure to make that work? Alan Ashby: Yeah, I think, you know, even the stuff that we announced today on stage, you know, products we announced at GTC, I think really helped kind of build out that situation and story for a small customer to be able to scale. You think about going back to the Dell Pro Max GB10, you know, you can take that device and you can, you know, run a small business basically off that depending on the concurrent users and be able to move up from that to some of our Pro workstations all the way up to the GB300. You know, we can run a model as big as a trillion parameters, it’s kind of crazy what you can do on a desktop, you know, and that doesn’t require any unique power requirements, I can plug that into a normal outlet. And then I could scale into, you know, actual infrastructure depending on the size of what the need is. And that’s where I think there’s a lot of opportunity for partners to think through, you know, how do they help customers scale through that. And so we talked a lot today at the show around, you know, the economics of everything. And in the long term, it’s going to be very challenging economically to run things in a public cloud. Yeah, on-prem is going to be a massive opportunity. And the fact that Michael today even talked about things about running foundation models and open source models on-prem, you know, your data is fully secure, you manage it all yourself. You know, it’s a lot easier to think about how I actually, you know, pull and extract value out of those different solutions. Robert Dutt: Well, and that’s the pitch right for the desk-side agentic AI solution is the idea, I think that the number was 87% reduction in token cost and in terms of comparing the cost of acquiring, deploying, running the solution on-prem. I think the break-even was three months or something like that against running the same kind of solution in public cloud. Alan Ashby: Yeah, I think that’s where customers are challenged today is, you know, you can have a lot of different, you know, foundational models and, you know, some of the agentic tools that are out there today that are subscription-based, cloud-based. And you can run through usage real fast without getting a lot of value out of it. When you start thinking about deploying stuff on-prem, you know, you know exactly what your output per day could be, and you can scale accordingly. Robert Dutt: How does that change how a partner approaches both selling and thinking about running, maintaining that infrastructure as opposed to something that’s all outsourced to the cloud and has those significant question marks of cost attached? Alan Ashby: I think there’s a lot of stuff we’re still figuring out, to be honest. You know, I think a lot of partners are trying to understand that and every customer is going to be a little bit in a different spot in their journey. And I think, you know, that’s where some of our partner ecosystems have tremendous value to help meet them where they are and help them take that first or second step forward to try to be able to deliver overall value to the company. Robert Dutt: Do you see that kind of time to value, that reduction in overall costs being something that can get unstuck some of those classic cases of AI workloads that are getting put into prototype, into test phase, but never quite see the light of day, partially perhaps because of that economic headwind that you discover when you start trying to scale these things? Alan Ashby: I think there’s that. I also think sometimes some customers probably try to maybe bite off more than they can chew at one time. And I think when we start thinking about these AI use cases, sometimes we’ll talk with some customers and partners helping them through them. They have, you know, two, three dozen things they want to try to accomplish out of one solution or one opportunity. It’s how do we narrow that down a little bit to where we actually extract value out of that particular use case that you’re trying to drive value with. And we’ve seen some really great success with some of our partners being able to help, you know, negotiate and navigate partner customers through that journey. You know, I think it takes a skill set that’s unique, and we’re starting to see more and more of our partners, you know, invest in and put attention to building out dedicated AI practice teams, helping them understand the skill set. The market’s moving incredibly fast, unlike ever before. And so, you know, it takes somebody who has a real passionate interest and a lot of curiosity to understand how these things all work together and all the pieces fit together and how do you take advantage of everything as you go forward. Robert Dutt: How do you see the co-delivery model evolving over time as you say, things are moving fast. When it comes to deploying AI factories, I think we heard earlier that, you know, the model is sort of Dell handling deployment and management of the overall environment while partners are being asked to focus on the application, the vertical, those kinds of things. How do you see the role of the channel, I guess, especially professional services and advisory-type partners evolving? Alan Ashby: Yeah, I think that to your point, I think it’s evolving. And I think that, you know, there’s a lot of opportunities here from an educational services perspective, consulting services perspective, services for our partners, you know, very few customers, especially when you think about, you know, a traditional commercial customer, mid-market customer, know exactly what to do and what to do next. You know, they might have started a pilot out in the public cloud. And then they’re trying to figure out where to go from here. And like, there’s a lot of service opportunity for our partners there. When it comes from, you know, other deployment services, I think there’s opportunities there for our partners, you know, depending on the solutions. When you look at post-delivery of the product into the customer, I think that there’s even more opportunity for partners of how, once things are deployed and installed, what’s next? And how do you help customers really extract value out of the infrastructure they spent a lot of money on, and have pretty high expectations of the ROI and the benefits they get out of it? I think there’s a massive opportunity for partners to help those customers through that journey. I think there’s a big opportunity for partners to take a product like our GB10, GP300 products and say, how do I go show you how to build an agentic workflow on those systems that can deliver value for your customers? You know, those are all going to be partner-delivered opportunities. Robert Dutt: All right. It sounds like even though it’s relatively early in the process, we are at the point where some of those next steps are becoming clear then. Alan Ashby: Yeah, I would say so. I mean, the question is, how fast do things change? You know, and it’s one of those things like I look at the agentic opportunities, probably one of the biggest things that can bring value for our partners. We’re really looking for a partner ecosystem that has the skill sets to deliver those for customers. Robert Dutt: Speaking of things changing, moving from traditional virtualization workloads to AI is a pretty big shift in how you think about structure, infrastructure, especially around storage, IO, networking, GPUs, needless to say. How’s the pre-sales team helping partners to figure out what the right size is for these solutions, both for current state and future state, so that you’re not either over-provisioning or under-provisioning customers? Alan Ashby: That’s a great question, actually. I mean, we’ve done a lot of things internally at Dell to get better ourselves and have the right talent and resources to support the partner ecosystem. You know, we have teams that can help support partners, both from a sizing, scoping of the opportunity, all the way down to configuring and deploying that solution if the partner needs that help. We’re also trying to help up-level our partners to be able to do it on their own. It’s kind of self-service and building the tools to help them through that motion. A couple of years ago, we started launching AI workshops, the different skill sets to help up-level and help that motion for a lot of our partners. The partners that have participated in those have seen a lot more success than those that didn’t. We do those multiple times a quarter and encourage partners to participate through those motions. We have an AI workshop multiple times a quarter in North America, and we go through every step of the phase from how do you have a conversation with a customer all the way through, how do you narrow down use cases, to all the way to how do you actually develop, design, and build the systems for what you need. Robert Dutt: Along those same lines, but a little bit more customer-facing and kind of looking at the economics of it, AI projects carry a lot of financial and technical risk for CIOs. What resources are there, whether it’s proof of concept, technical validation, or specialty engineering teams that partners can tap in to kind of prove the math and de-risk a solution such as AI Factory for customers? Alan Ashby: Yeah, there’s a couple of them actually, and I encourage all partners to kind of look at the options. We have at Dell, we have what we call our Customer Solution Centers, and those Customer Solution Centers have the ability to be able to work with a pre-sales specialist, a pre-sales expert on various different solutions. We have data centers where partners can take advantage of and leverage to be able to do proof of concept for customers, proof of value with those folks, and that can vary from any size of the architecture, from small all the way up to very large, and help support them through that. Also encourage partners to reach out to their Dell teams and how do you take advantage of those CSC resources. It’s a very simple process, but work through Dell teams. Same thing would be to go spend time with us in our labs. We have a great lab up in the Hopkinton area where AI factories are manufactured and built, and love to take partners through that facility to be able to see what’s possible there. We have an AI lab down in Austin to help them through that as well. So there’s a lot of opportunities. I would say the other one is we have a lot of partners also building out their own capabilities, their own labs, and we’ve helped support them through that as well. I think that they’re providing some amazing value to their customers, being able to do their own POCs and demonstrations and whatever it might be to help support that customer throughout the process. Robert Dutt: AI obviously gets the big headlines because it’s the 2020s as it is. But customers still have traditional enterprise apps and aging infrastructure that is going to need a refresh. I guess, how does your team handle guiding partners around going after the new shiny thing, the big opportunity that’s out there versus the kind of day-to-day operational challenge of standard data center modernization and refresh? Alan Ashby: Yeah, it’s hard when they have two of these really big shiny objects out there that have a lot of potential value for customers, both with AI but also just traditional data center modernization. We’ve seen a really great success over the last year of helping customers, I would say, clean up the data center, think through what they’ve got today in there and how to modernize it and right-size everything. When you look at some of the things that we’ll announce here at the show, it’s pretty exciting, honestly. There’s some great announcements we had in the Day 1 keynote, Day 2 keynote will be just as exciting, more from an infrastructure perspective of things. I’m really excited what we’re doing just with traditional servers and we’ve seen a lot of great success by our partner ecosystem over the last several quarters with them going in and helping customers look at consolidation of those environments. Our 18G server platforms, which we’ll announce, can consolidate 13 legacy servers into one. That’s kind of crazy math when you think about that. It’s easy now to think about how do I help customers free up space and modernize things that makes it so AI is possible in their own data centers; consolidating racks in the servers is kind of a crazy concept. Then you think of how we’re looking at modernizing just traditional architecture with HCI architecture and the disaggregated architecture providing real value for customers with right-sizing, both compute capacity and storage capacity to be able to extract as much value as possible across the ecosystem of the portfolio. Robert Dutt: Along those lines, any other, I guess hidden opportunities for partners, things that maybe don’t get the big attention of the desk-side AI or PowerRack or some of those things, but still represent—sort of along the lines of the data center example you just gave—opportunities that are worth pursuing, that are worth looking at, but maybe not quite the highest profile? Alan Ashby: I mean, 100%. It’s easy to get excited with what we’re doing in AI. The market’s obviously kind of dictating a lot of that, but there’s a lot of opportunity, a lot of money to be made for our partners to be able to focus on classical data center architecture. We’ve got some great solutions. Our Dell Private Cloud is one that’s extremely exciting for partners, the opportunity to be able to help those customers through that process and think through that. I also am extremely excited with what we’re doing around the security front with our data protection portfolio, our PowerProtect product lines. Security is one that I think in the age of AI, we need to think through security differently. There’s some additional opportunities for partners to think about how do they provide those services, those extra value pieces to help make sure all of these customers are ready for what could be an AI security threat. Robert Dutt: I assume there’s a better together story to be told there between the hardware, the infrastructure, and the cyber protection. Alan Ashby: 100%. That’s one of the biggest values that we have at Dell. There’s inherent value between the products themselves being able to support each other differently, but also they have the large Dell value prop with the Dell supply chain, our security chain, how we build products. Everything provides value across the entire portfolio. Robert Dutt: What’s the single biggest misconception you see customers have around the idea of deploying on-prem AI in particular? Alan Ashby: That’s interesting. The big one I would say is where do I get started and how big do I need to get started? I think that we saw early days, a lot of customers thought initially you had to just get in line for supply on large GPU systems when you could run a lot of workloads, really interesting and exciting AI workloads on a server with a PCIe-based GPU, and now even more so with some of the other platforms with workstations or GB300, GB10. The biggest misconception is just thinking about how big I have to get started. I would encourage almost every executive, every leader of every company to start thinking differently about you probably should have an AI PC in your office and on your desk. You should have one of our, I always call it an AI supercomputer on your desk with the GB10. It’s about who’s going to be the most curious. There’s nothing that limits you from capabilities with what the models can do today. We really just need people to start using and playing and practicing and helping support the overall value to the customers and to our partners. Robert Dutt: It’s an interesting concept that a computer with a better NPU or GPU on board can unlock that curiosity towards AI and ultimately drag to infrastructure refresh down the road, I think. Alan Ashby: I think the key thing is you don’t have to be a coder. You don’t have to be a developer. Really today, anybody could be a developer. You could build your own application if you wanted to. You can build your own dashboards if you wanted to. You can run it 100% on-prem if you wanted to. You can use a coding assistant to help you manage through that. All you have to do is understand how to talk to it. How do you manage it like an individual and how do you manage it like an agent? It’s a secondary employee that helps you basically give you superpowers. Robert Dutt: If an MSP wants to get serious about the data center and AI with Dell, what’s the first step if they’re already in terms of certification, competency, that kind of thing that they should be looking at? Alan Ashby: Yeah, again, the portfolio is changing very quickly. I would say that table stakes obviously is having a good understanding of our compute platforms with what we’ve got put together with NVIDIA. That’d probably be step one. Step two would be thinking about what you can provide from a storage perspective and how you take advantage of both PowerScale and ObjectScale and all the way up through our lightning file systems, having good understanding how you can deploy that for your customers at scale. Then the other one would be how do you work closely with the Dell teams? That’s one of the things that is always encouraging for partners to think through is Dell has this incredibly large sales force that can help give them scale, give them opportunity. How do you share as a partner? How do you share your value back to the Dell teams? Make sure that they understand where you can be supportive of their customer experience. How do you work collaboratively with the Dell teams across the ecosystem? So forth. Tons of opportunity. We’re always looking for partners that have the right skill sets and the right capabilities. Our Dell teams want to bring them into customer accounts because we need their support. We need their help. Robert Dutt: Acknowledging this might be a wide range, what are some of those common threads that make for a good partner for you in terms of skill sets, areas of focus, that kind of thing? Alan Ashby: Yeah, I think it’s evolving over time. Today, I look at partners that have unique skill sets are incredibly important. Partners that have a competency across our portfolio. Table stakes of having competencies around our compute platform, our storage platforms, but then thinking even deeper, how do you have competency around some of our more isolated platforms like what we do in our unstructured storage space with PowerScale and ObjectScale and access scale that we announced today? Same thing with our data protection portfolio, our cyber resilience platforms, our SRP platforms, like partners that have deep technical specialty expertise in those areas, they’re always going to be needed and valued in our partner ecosystem. AI is one other area to differentiate a partner from, but there’s a lot of those opportunities. Even today with our Dell Private Cloud, I always tell partners that whenever you see a pivot change in our portfolio, like we did when we launched the Dell Private Cloud, this is an opportunity to differentiate yourself as a partner from other partners. To jump in early and be able to build the skill sets that our Dell team is looking for out of a partner to support their customers. Our Dell teams are always looking for those partners that can help lead the charge, especially from a technical perspective with the customers to validate the solution themselves to be able to provide that extensive value to the customer themselves. Robert Dutt: All right. Last one for me, without naming any names or with naming names, should you feel like doing so? What’s the most creative, unexpected, surprising use case for a Dell AI factory that you’ve seen a customer deploy thus far? Alan Ashby: Wow, that’s a hard one. I mean, there’s a lot of really interesting ones I’ve seen. I mean, early days, some of the ones I thought was some of the most exciting stuff that we did with Amarillo County in Texas. It’s a county that there’s a lot of languages natively spoken there and the community there needed to provide basically language services to a very large broad-based set of individuals in the community in their native tongue. And the Dell team worked closely with those folks to make that happen. All the way down there to where we got a number of partners helping small entities, both commercial and public entities, really think about how they can drive agentic workflows and some of the things that are dealing around that with dashboarding. Chat, agents, obviously is an easy one. And then helping customers through kind of how do you do code assist models. Those are probably the really big ones that we see from a use case perspective from our partners. Robert Dutt: No shortage of opportunities. Alan Ashby: Oh my gosh, it’s unbelievable how many there are today. Robert Dutt: Thank you for taking the time. Alan Ashby: Absolutely. This is great. Thank you. Robert Dutt: There you have it. Alan Ashby from Dell. I’d like to thank Alan for his time, carving out a few minutes for me amidst the chaos of day one here at DTW. My big takeaway from that conversation is that you don’t have to be deploying a multimillion dollar PowerRack system to get into the AI game with Dell right now. Between the new desktop workstations running localized agentic workflows and the massive 13 to one server consolidation plays they’re seeing in the traditional data center, there’s a very practical immediate path towards revenue here for partners in the mid market. I’d like to thank you as always for listening to the show. If you’re enjoying our coverage from Dell Technologies World, please do take a second and follow or subscribe in the podcast app of your choice. You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your audio. And if you have a moment to leave a rating or review, always hugely appreciated. Until next time, I’m Robert Dutt for channelbuzz.ca and I’ll see you in the channel.
About this episode: In this episode of the Wellness Pro Show, Cate Stillman sits down with Carey Peters, Co-Founder of Health Coach Institute (HCI), for the most candid conversation about certifications the wellness industry rarely gets to hear. Carey has spent more than two decades training tens of thousands of coaches across more than 50 countries, building and successfully exiting one of the largest coach training organizations in the world, and now mentoring founders and executives at the highest level of their careers. Her perspective on when a certification is the smartest investment you will ever make, and when it is simply a very expensive form of procrastination, is hard-won, deeply practical, and refreshingly direct. This conversation traces Carey's unlikely journey from working actress to accidental entrepreneur, through the creation of Holistic MBA and then Health Coach Institute, all the way to a multi-million dollar exit in 2023. Along the way she shares the inside story of how HCI scaled rapidly by marrying a powerful coaching methodology with sophisticated lead generation, what happens to a founder's vision when private equity enters the picture, and what she now knows about building something that lasts. For wellness professionals weighing their next investment, whether that is enrolling in a program, creating their own certification, or building a membership-based business model, this episode offers the clearest and most honest framework available for making that decision well. Key Takeaways: The Certification Collecting Trap: Why endless training can become a comfortable and costly form of avoidance, and how to recognize when that is what is happening The Green Light for Creating Your Own Certification: Why the signal to build your own program is not a methodology in your mind but proven results with real clients who are already asking you to teach them what you do Accreditation in Context: What bodies like ICF and the National Board of Health and Wellness Coaches actually mean for your business, and how to evaluate their value specifically for your audience at point of sale Confidence Comes From Doing: Why every coaching school produces graduates who struggle with confidence, and why the only real cure is working with more clients, not enrolling in more programs The Business Model is the Differentiator: Why for practitioners who already have a stack of credentials, a sustainable business model moves the needle far more than another certification ever will What Private Equity Does to a Founder: The honest account of what changes when outside investors or buyers enter a coaching business, and what founders need to know before they take that path Resources and Links: Carey Peters Website: https://careypeters.com Health Coach Institute: https://www.healthcoachinstitute.com Wellness Pro Hotline: https://api.leadconnectorhq.com/widget/bookings/wellness-pro-hotline Wellness Pro Academy: https://wellnesspro.academy Yogahealer: https://www.yogahealer.com About the Guest, Carey Peters: Carey Peters is the Co-Founder of Health Coach Institute, one of the world's leading health and life coach training programs, where she helped train tens of thousands of coaches across more than 50 countries. A Master Health and Life Coach, speaker, and trusted business mentor, Carey spent more than two decades teaching coaches how to deliver real transformation and build sustainable, profitable practices. She now works at the executive level with founders and leaders navigating their next chapter. About the Host, Cate Stillman: Cate Stillman is an Ayurvedic practitioner, author, and founder of Yogahealer and Wellness Pro Academy. For more than two decades she has helped wellness professionals build thriving membership communities rooted in ancient wisdom and innovative structure. She is the author of Body Thrive, Master of You, Uninflamed, and Primal Habits. Wellness Pro Academy: https://wellnesspro.academy Yogahealer: https://www.yogahealer.com Primal Habits: https://amzn.to/3OvfPOx Uninflamed: https://amzn.to/3UUBgJ2 Body Thrive: https://amzn.to/3udNFR0 Master of You: https://amzn.to/3OlfoGn What would shift in your practice if you stopped waiting to feel ready, and started treating your next client session as the only certification that actually matters?
Today’s headline news for Canadian IT solution providers: Acronis has launched Cyber Frame, a new hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) and infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) platform built specifically for managed service providers. The platform allows MSPs to build and deliver infrastructure services with native integration into Acronis’ cyber protection and remote monitoring and management (RMM) tools. Acronis says it is designed to give service providers an alternative to legacy virtualization and hyperscaler cost pressures, offering better margin control and options for both fully hosted and partner-hosted deployments. Citrix has introduced Citrix Platform Flex, a new persona-based secure access model intended to help organizations move away from static, one-size-fits-all IT delivery. The new platform is built to align IT resources more closely with evolving business needs, delivering secure access, managed services, and observability with more flexible and predictable pricing. It acknowledges that different worker profiles require vastly different access parameters in a modern hybrid environment. Upwind has launched its new AI Agentic Pack, adding agent-driven capabilities to its cloud security platform. The tools are designed to help security teams investigate threats, validate active exposures, and prioritize remediation, leaning into the growing industry trend of using autonomous agents to compress the window between threat discovery and response. Nerdio vice president of MSP sales Will Ominsky warned in a Redmond Channel Partner interview today that MSPs who figure out how to monetize AI by the end of 2026 will grab massive market share. He noted that partners who only experiment with AI internally—without building client-facing, revenue-generating AI practices—will be left behind in the coming wave of SMB adoption. Boomi and Red Hat have announced a strategic collaboration to deliver an integrated stack for deploying agentic AI at scale. The partnership combines Boomi’s Agentstudio with Red Hat AI, providing organizations with a framework to orchestrate AI workflows securely without losing control of their data governance or allowing cloud consumption costs to spiral. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is reportedly scrutinizing Instructure after a massive ransomware attack disrupted its Canvas online learning platform. The breach highlights the growing vulnerability of critical SaaS infrastructure and the widespread supply chain impact when platforms are targeted during peak usage periods, such as university finals week. Canadian cybersecurity provider Plurilock has announced CAD $1.13 million in new critical services contracts. The wins reflect continued momentum for the AI-native security firm as it expands its footprint across both public and private sector environments, capitalizing on the growing need for identity-centric security. [powerpresss] Read Full Transcript Welcome to The Buzz from ChannelBuzz.ca, I’m Robert Dutt, today is Thursday, May 14, 2026, and here’s what’s happening in the channel today. Acronis has launched Cyber Frame, a new hyperconverged infrastructure and infrastructure-as-a-service platform built specifically for managed service providers. The launch comes at a critical time for the channel, as many service providers are actively seeking alternatives to legacy virtualization platforms following recent industry shakeups and pricing model changes. Cyber Frame allows MSPs to build and deliver infrastructure services with native, seamless integration into Acronis’ existing cyber protection and remote monitoring and management tools. Rather than dealing with the unpredictable costs of hyperscale public clouds or the complexity of managing disparate vendor stacks, MSPs can use Cyber Frame to consolidate their service delivery. Acronis says the platform is designed to give service providers significantly better margin control and simplified management. It offers flexible deployment options, allowing partners to choose between a fully hosted model managed by Acronis, or a partner-hosted deployment running on the MSP’s own hardware in their local data center. By combining compute, storage, networking, and security into a single unified platform, Acronis is positioning Cyber Frame as a way for MSPs to scale their infrastructure offerings profitably while maintaining the tight security posture that modern SMB clients demand. Citrix has introduced Citrix Platform Flex, a new persona-based secure access model intended to help organizations move away from static, one-size-fits-all IT delivery. In today’s hybrid work environment, the access requirements for a call center employee, a traveling executive, and a remote software engineer are vastly different. Citrix built Platform Flex to recognize these distinctions, allowing IT teams to align resources, security controls, and application delivery specifically to the varying needs of different worker profiles. The new platform delivers secure application access, managed services, and comprehensive observability under a model designed for more flexible and predictable pricing. By shifting away from rigid licensing structures that often force companies to over-provision resources for basic users, Citrix aims to help enterprises optimize their cloud and infrastructure spending. Platform Flex also incorporates advanced analytics and security policies that adapt in real-time based on user behavior and location. For channel partners, this persona-driven approach provides a clear framework to help enterprise customers rationalize their IT investments, simplify the management of distributed workforces, and ensure that security protocols do not impede productivity for end users who require high-performance access to specialized applications. Upwind has launched its new AI Agentic Pack, adding autonomous, agent-driven capabilities to its cloud security platform. As cloud environments grow increasingly complex and security operations centers face unprecedented alert fatigue, the cybersecurity industry is rapidly shifting toward agentic AI to help manage the load. Upwind’s new tools are specifically designed to help security teams autonomously investigate threats, validate whether theoretical vulnerabilities are actually exposed to active exploitation, and prioritize remediation efforts based on real-world risk. Instead of simply generating more alerts for human analysts to sift through, the Agentic Pack leverages artificial intelligence to actively investigate the root cause of an incident, map the attack path across cloud infrastructure, and propose actionable fixes. This launch leans heavily into the growing necessity of using autonomous agents to drastically compress the window between threat discovery and response. With malicious actors utilizing AI to accelerate their attacks, defenders require matching speed to counter them. For managed security service providers, Upwind’s agentic capabilities offer a pathway to scale their operations, handle a higher volume of telemetry without adding headcount, and provide faster threat containment for their clients. In brief: Nerdio vice president of MSP sales Will Ominsky warned in a Redmond Channel Partner interview today that MSPs who figure out how to monetize AI by the end of 2026 will grab massive market share. Boomi and Red Hat have announced a strategic collaboration to deliver an integrated stack for deploying agentic AI at scale. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is reportedly scrutinizing Instructure after a massive ransomware attack disrupted its Canvas online learning platform. And Canadian cybersecurity provider Plurilock has announced 1.13 million dollars in new critical services contracts. Later today on in the channel, we’re talking eCrime Reports and Threat Intelligence with Camerous Tousley and Pedro Kertzman of ESET. And if you missed it yesterday, check out my conversation with Auvik’s Steve Petryschuk on the gap between MSPs’ expectation around AI, and the reality they have realized to date. That’s how we’re seeing the headlines today. I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, thanks for listening. Have a great day.
Recovering the Internet: How Big Tech Took Control-And How We Can Take It Back (Columbia Global Reports, 2026)is an indictment of how Big Tech cloaks ruthless commercial exploitation in the language of free speech. Olivier Sylvain, a leading legal scholar and former senior advisor at the Federal Trade Commission, exposes the incentives behind social media design, revealing how they trap users in cycles of addiction, misinformation, and harm—from fatal TikTok challenges to AI chatbot codependency. With clarity and urgency, Sylvain dismantles the libertarian mythology that shaped internet law and calls for a new legal regime that protects users over platforms. Recovering the Internet is a powerful, original intervention into the most urgent policy debate of our time—what it will take to reclaim the digital public sphere. Find out more here Jake Chanenson is a computer science Ph.D. student and law student at the University of Chicago. Broadly, Jake is interested in topics relating to HCI, privacy, and tech policy. Jake's work has been published in top venues such as ACM's CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
Recovering the Internet: How Big Tech Took Control-And How We Can Take It Back (Columbia Global Reports, 2026)is an indictment of how Big Tech cloaks ruthless commercial exploitation in the language of free speech. Olivier Sylvain, a leading legal scholar and former senior advisor at the Federal Trade Commission, exposes the incentives behind social media design, revealing how they trap users in cycles of addiction, misinformation, and harm—from fatal TikTok challenges to AI chatbot codependency. With clarity and urgency, Sylvain dismantles the libertarian mythology that shaped internet law and calls for a new legal regime that protects users over platforms. Recovering the Internet is a powerful, original intervention into the most urgent policy debate of our time—what it will take to reclaim the digital public sphere. Find out more here Jake Chanenson is a computer science Ph.D. student and law student at the University of Chicago. Broadly, Jake is interested in topics relating to HCI, privacy, and tech policy. Jake's work has been published in top venues such as ACM's CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/public-policy
Recovering the Internet: How Big Tech Took Control-And How We Can Take It Back (Columbia Global Reports, 2026)is an indictment of how Big Tech cloaks ruthless commercial exploitation in the language of free speech. Olivier Sylvain, a leading legal scholar and former senior advisor at the Federal Trade Commission, exposes the incentives behind social media design, revealing how they trap users in cycles of addiction, misinformation, and harm—from fatal TikTok challenges to AI chatbot codependency. With clarity and urgency, Sylvain dismantles the libertarian mythology that shaped internet law and calls for a new legal regime that protects users over platforms. Recovering the Internet is a powerful, original intervention into the most urgent policy debate of our time—what it will take to reclaim the digital public sphere. Find out more here Jake Chanenson is a computer science Ph.D. student and law student at the University of Chicago. Broadly, Jake is interested in topics relating to HCI, privacy, and tech policy. Jake's work has been published in top venues such as ACM's CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/science-technology-and-society
Recovering the Internet: How Big Tech Took Control-And How We Can Take It Back (Columbia Global Reports, 2026)is an indictment of how Big Tech cloaks ruthless commercial exploitation in the language of free speech. Olivier Sylvain, a leading legal scholar and former senior advisor at the Federal Trade Commission, exposes the incentives behind social media design, revealing how they trap users in cycles of addiction, misinformation, and harm—from fatal TikTok challenges to AI chatbot codependency. With clarity and urgency, Sylvain dismantles the libertarian mythology that shaped internet law and calls for a new legal regime that protects users over platforms. Recovering the Internet is a powerful, original intervention into the most urgent policy debate of our time—what it will take to reclaim the digital public sphere. Find out more here Jake Chanenson is a computer science Ph.D. student and law student at the University of Chicago. Broadly, Jake is interested in topics relating to HCI, privacy, and tech policy. Jake's work has been published in top venues such as ACM's CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/law
Recovering the Internet: How Big Tech Took Control-And How We Can Take It Back (Columbia Global Reports, 2026)is an indictment of how Big Tech cloaks ruthless commercial exploitation in the language of free speech. Olivier Sylvain, a leading legal scholar and former senior advisor at the Federal Trade Commission, exposes the incentives behind social media design, revealing how they trap users in cycles of addiction, misinformation, and harm—from fatal TikTok challenges to AI chatbot codependency. With clarity and urgency, Sylvain dismantles the libertarian mythology that shaped internet law and calls for a new legal regime that protects users over platforms. Recovering the Internet is a powerful, original intervention into the most urgent policy debate of our time—what it will take to reclaim the digital public sphere. Find out more here Jake Chanenson is a computer science Ph.D. student and law student at the University of Chicago. Broadly, Jake is interested in topics relating to HCI, privacy, and tech policy. Jake's work has been published in top venues such as ACM's CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/technology
Recovering the Internet: How Big Tech Took Control-And How We Can Take It Back (Columbia Global Reports, 2026)is an indictment of how Big Tech cloaks ruthless commercial exploitation in the language of free speech. Olivier Sylvain, a leading legal scholar and former senior advisor at the Federal Trade Commission, exposes the incentives behind social media design, revealing how they trap users in cycles of addiction, misinformation, and harm—from fatal TikTok challenges to AI chatbot codependency. With clarity and urgency, Sylvain dismantles the libertarian mythology that shaped internet law and calls for a new legal regime that protects users over platforms. Recovering the Internet is a powerful, original intervention into the most urgent policy debate of our time—what it will take to reclaim the digital public sphere. Find out more here Jake Chanenson is a computer science Ph.D. student and law student at the University of Chicago. Broadly, Jake is interested in topics relating to HCI, privacy, and tech policy. Jake's work has been published in top venues such as ACM's CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/book-of-the-day
In this episode of the Pure Report, we sit down with longtime colleague Robert Quimbey, Consulting Field Solution Architect, known to many as "Q." Q shares with us how his role has evolved from a back-end problem solver focusing on Microsoft integrations to a customer-facing strategist dedicated to understanding the entire solution set for customers, not just fixing siloed problems. Drawing on his deep history with Microsoft technologies, including his time on the Exchange team, Q discusses Everpure's strategic moves to simplify the modern data center. Our conversation dives into two major capability developments: ActiveCluster for File and Azure Local. ActiveCluster for File is designed to provide high availability for file services, inheriting the core benefits of the original Everpure ActiveCluster— with ease of setup and no extra licensing costs—while solving hard problems in the file space. Q explains how ActiveCluster for File implements file storage at a cousin layer to block storage, avoiding the performance and scalability issues common in competing solutions. The new capability includes continuous availability to ensure persistent sessions for VMs on SMB shares, even during non-disruptive upgrades, and is launching right as the NAS market is projected to nearly double, driven largely by AI-related unstructured data growth. Next, we explore Azure Local, formerly Azure Stack HCI, a project Q has championed for years. This initiative is key to customers looking to modernize their virtualization strategy. The new integration, which is near GA, allows customers to connect virtual machines and containers directly to FlashArray via Fibre Channel (FC), avoiding the complexities of HCI storage. Ultimately, the focus remains on the power of the core Purity foundation to deliver agility, predictable costs (like Evergreen//One), and superior performance for all hybrid-cloud workloads. To learn more, visit: https://blog.purestorage.com/products/microsoft-azure-local-and-flash-array/ and https://blog.purestorage.com/products/introducing-activecluster-for-file/ Check out the new Everpure digital customer community to join the conversation with peers and Pure experts: https://purecommunity.purestorage.com/ 00:00 Intro and Q's Career Journey 07:17 Key Development Projects 09:59 Stat of the Episode on NAS Storage 12:51 ActiveCluster for File Discussion 27:45 Protocols and Arrays Supported 34:19 Intro to Azure Local 53:04 Hot Takes Segment
Today we have two guests from two different companies who have one shared conviction: AI works best when it amplifies people, not replaces them. Today we're joined by Rachana Rele, VP of Product Design for AI-native products at Adobe, and David Shim, co-founder and CEO of Read AI. Together, they're building very different products — but they share a vision of AI that removes the drudgery from creative work and makes room for the thinking that actually matters. In this conversation, we dig into some ideas that could genuinely change how you think about your work. David talks about this concept of “storage of intelligence” — the idea that your knowledge, your meeting history, your working style could all be captured and made available as a kind of digital twin that keeps working even when you're not in the room. And Rachana shares how Adobe is thinking about AI not as a one-shot creative output machine, but as a collaborative partner that helps teams break out of their own blind spots. We also push them on the harder questions — the job anxiety that's real right now in tech, the surveillance concerns that come with recording your work life, and where they each personally draw the line. Bios David Shim is Co-Founder and CEO of Read AI, an AI productivity platform focused on helping knowledge workers leverage the power of AI to improve how they collaborate, communicate, and get work done. The platform provides meeting insights, search, chat, and proactive recommendations for millions of professionals, integrating seamlessly with the tools teams already use. Read AI is pioneering the concept of the Digital Twin—AI that serves as a true extension of you, built on deep contextual understanding of how you work. Today, Read AI is trusted by teams at 90% of the Fortune 500 and in the past year, was recognized as a Top 10 AI Vendor for Enterprises by Brex, a Top 50 AI App by a16z and Mercury, and named one of Inc.'s Top 16 Companies to Watch Before founding Read AI, David served as CEO of Foursquare and previously founded Placed, which was acquired by Snap in 2017. In 2025, he was named CEO of the Year by Geekwire. Rachana Rele Rachana has spent 20+ years at the intersection of technology and human experience — figuring out not just what to build, but why it matters. At Adobe, she shapes the direction of new products, nurtures ideas from zero to something real, and helps early-stage businesses find their footing and grow. She's also a perpetual student — currently finishing an MBA at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, with an M.Eng. in HCI from Clemson and a B.E. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Mumbai.
Come along for a deep dive into mixed pronouns in queer, trans and nonbinary narratives with none other than Sue Lanser, your favourite narratologist's favourite narratologist. Sue and I talk about why we might need to rethink the concept of gender disguise narratives, where we find mixed pronouns in literary histories and why mixed pronouns often become sensual in literature. My favourite bit: Sue asks me about my personal hero, the Grinch.This conversation is part of a miniseries that accompanies my book Queer Forms and Pronouns: Gender Nonconformity in Anglophone Literature (Oxford University Press, 2026). I hope you like hearing more from your host, but not to worry: we will be back to our usual format in just a few weeks. ReferencesSue Lanser's The Sexuality of HistorySue Lanser's Narrative Theory UnboundSue Lanser's “Trans-forming Narratology” Narrative 32.2 (2024)Jeanette Winterson's Written on the BodyLe Roman de SilenceMichel de Montaigne's Journal de VoyageMargaret Cavendish's Assaulted and Pursued ChastityLyly's GalateaChevalièr(e) d'ÉonAlex Myers' RevolutionaryDeborah SamsonJenny Fran Davis' DyketteIsaac Fellman's Dead CollectionsSpiel, Katta, Os Keyes, and Pınar Barlas. 2019. ‘Patching Gender: Non-Binary Utopias in HCI'. Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, May 2, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1145/3290607.3310425.The GrinchDr SeussJim CarreyBenedict CumberbatchLes FeinbergMaggie NelsonHarry DodgeJen ManionDean Spade Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: What role does narrative agency play in the difference between external and intrinsic pronoun ascription? Why does Susan suggest that we need to revisit Shakespeare's and other's gender disguise narratives? Susan mentions how characters that are perceived as masculine but use she/her are much more frequently ridiculed than characters viewed as feminine who use he/him. Why do you think that is? How has feminism expanded what ‘she/her' can mean? How does mixing pronouns do similar or different work from singular they? Why does the Grinch, according to Lena, have big they energy?
Nigeria Arrests 74yr-Old-Grandpa Enroute UK With 11kg Cocainehttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/nigeria-arrests-74yr-old-grandpa-enroute-uk-with-11kg-cocaine/#Aduan #edo #Kano #Lagos #Abuja Authorities in Nigeria have arrested a 74-year-old grandpa with cocaine concealed inside foodstuffs, balloons and foil papers found inside his traveling luggage during check by the men of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA while the suspect was about to board a British Airways Flight to Heathrow Airport in London, United Kingdom, this, the suspect during preliminary interview by one of the officials of the NDLEA, said he was traveling to London for a visit, and when asked who is the person he had planned to visit in London, the suspect said he was given some address of whom to visit, adding, the person that gave him some address of the place he had planned to visit in London was the one that gave him the bag containing the substance abuse, at a point, the suspect looked somehow surprised when the security operatives informed him that the white substance turned blue and in a related development, another suspect, a woman while with her children including an infant was arrested during which she was about to sell 89 grams of cocaine tested to be cocaine hydrochloride or cocaine HCI. #OsazuwaAkonedoBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/osazuwaakonedo--4980924/support.Kindly support us for more productivity and efficiency in news delivery.Visit our donation page: DonateYou can also use our Mobile app for more news in different formats: CLICK TO DOWNDLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY STORE
In this episode, Rajkumar Thirunavukkarasu, SVP & Head of Healthcare Provider Business at Tech Mahindra , and LaDonna Sweeten, EHR Practice Lead at The HCI Group, a fully owned subsidiary of Tech Mahindra, discuss how health systems can transform their EHR from a static system of record into a dynamic performance engine. The conversation also highlights a unique market differentiator: the combined strength of The HCI Group's deep EHR and provider-focused expertise with Tech Mahindra's global technology scale, engineering depth, automation capabilities, and innovation track record. Together, this partnership brings end-to-end capabilities—from EHR optimization and managed services to advanced data engineering, AI integration, and enterprise digital transformation—delivered at scale with measurable outcomes. Listeners will gain insight into how leading organizations are moving beyond implementation toward sustained transformation—leveraging global innovation, cross-industry engineering excellence, and healthcare-specific expertise to drive lasting value. In this episode, they talk about: HCI Group grew from staff augmentation to a full solutions provider after the Tech Mahindra acquisition Many providers aren't fully utilizing EHR systems despite heavy investment Providers face simultaneous pressure from workforce shortages, shrinking margins, and new regulations HCI and Tech Mahindra use each org's own data to tailor strategy rather than a one-size-fits-all approach AI is set to significantly disrupt revenue cycle management Ambient listening technology is reducing the clinician documentation burden End-to-end workflow reimagination is recommended over isolated AI pilots Patients now expect the same seamless experience from healthcare as they get from retailers Houston Methodist's new campus was cited as a model for automated, frictionless clinical workflows Value-based care is now mandatory, making urgent AI adoption a necessity not a choice A Little About Rajkumar and LaDonna: Raj T is a dynamic and accomplished business leader with over two decades of global experience in managing high-impact client relationships and driving growth in the healthcare technology space. Currently, Raj is serving as SVP & Head of Healthcare Provider Business at Tech Mahindra, where he leads strategy, delivery, and innovation for some of the world's leading healthcare organizations. Raj's collaborative leadership style and results-driven mindset have consistently delivered value to clients, making him a trusted advisor in the healthcare technology ecosystem. Raj is passionate about harnessing technology to improve patient outcomes, streamline provider operations, and enable data-driven decision-making across the care continuum. LoDonna leads enterprise healthcare technology strategy and delivery for health systems nationwide. She specializes in EHR transformation, workflow optimization, managed services, and digital enablement, partnering with executive leaders to ensure technology investments drive measurable clinical, operational, and financial impact. LaDonna uses data and best-practice benchmarks to identify performance gaps, prioritize high-value opportunities, and design targeted improvement roadmaps. She then applies structured governance and performance monitoring to mitigate risk and ensure intended benefits are realized. Her passion is helping provider organizations transform their EHR from a system of record into a data-informed performance engine that supports fiscal sustainability and provider resilience. She understands that in today's margin-compressed and highly regulated environment, optimization has to be measurable and sustainable, not just aspirational.
In today's episode of BizNews Daybreak for Friday, 27th February 2026, Alec Hogg unpacks the latest market movements and geopolitical shifts you need to win the day. Here is what is on the agenda for today: Market Movements: The Rand is holding steady at R15.90 to the US Dollar, alongside a solid gold price, while Wall Street experienced a bumpy overnight session, with tech giants like Nvidia and ASML taking a hit. Local Post-Budget Winners: Nedbank and Discovery shares jumped 8% following the budget, while traders also favoured HCI and Lewis. Offshore Limits Doubled: Great news for offshore investors, as the budget revealed the single discretionary allowance has doubled to R2 million, allowing married couples to move R4 million abroad annually without SARS tax clearance delays. Post-Budget Breakfast Insights: Alec shares exclusive audio from the Brand SA/Treasury breakfast featuring Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana discussing structural reforms and his take on "neo-liberals". Netflix Surges: Netflix shares jumped 9% after hours following the company's decision to withdraw from its bid to acquire Warner Bros. The Global Chip War: A deep dive into the semiconductor industry with Tufts University professor and Chip Wars author Chris Miller, exploring the world's heavy reliance on Taiwan. Banking Red Flags: The FT News Briefing reveals how Deutsche Bank ignored glaring compliance issues to secure business from Jeffrey Epstein back in 2013.
HCI senior trainer Michael Lomax joins Megan Hunter to unpack why high conflict behavior is escalating in today's workplaces—and what leaders can actually do about it. Drawing on twenty-five years in workplace dispute resolution, Michael explains why global stress and unresolved trauma are showing up at work, what happens in a leader's brain when they get emotionally hooked, and how to regulate yourself before you respond. You'll learn the "calm before think" strategy for de-escalating upset employees, how to handle a team-wide crisis triggered by one inflammatory email, and when a single conversation with a difficult senior leader simply isn't enough. Whether you're a leader, in HR, or anyone trying to navigate a workplace that feels harder than it used to—this one's for you.Resources from this episode:New Ways for Work Training for Workplace Coaches — March 3 & 5, 2026Leaders Training: Managing High Conflict Behavior at Work — April 23, 2026BIFF at Work by Bill Eddy and Megan HunterMediating High Conflict Disputes by Bill Eddy and Michael LomaxIt's All Your Fault at Work by Bill Eddy and L. Georgi DiStefanoSubmit Questions | Full Show Notes | Bookstore | High Conflict InstituteWatch this episode on YouTube!Important Notice: Our discussions focus on behavioral patterns rather than diagnoses. For specific legal or therapeutic guidance, please consult qualified professionals in your area. (00:00) - Welcome to It's All Your Fault (01:19) - Michael's Background (02:35) - High Conflict at Work (08:24) - An Increase (11:33) - How It's Showing Up (14:11) - Getting Emotionally Hooked (18:32) - What You Can Do and Regulating (23:12) - Shifting into Problem-Solving (29:13) - Email Conflict (35:40) - Options List (37:14) - Wrap Up
South East Technological University (SETU) is coordinating AM-Heal, a two-year, €400,000 Erasmus+ partnership designed to strengthen Additive Manufacturing (AM) skills for healthcare and rehabilitation. Working with partners in Spain, Malta, and Ukraine, SETU is leading AM-Heal to develop and deliver a Level 9 Micro-Credential, which will build digital skills and professional competencies at the intersection of AM and rehabilitation. The programme will be delivered through a blended approach, combining online learning via a multilingual e-learning platform with hands-on training in partner facilities. A dedicated 3D printing training hub in Kyiv will also be established to strengthen local capacity and support skills development linked to rehabilitation and recovery. Through the Department of Engineering Technology at SETU's Cork Road Campus, the University will guide the consortium process to define and validate the shared micro-credential specifications in line with European micro-credential principles. Each partner higher-education institution will deliver the micro-credential locally and award it under its own academic regulations and quality assurance procedures, ensuring consistent content while supporting local certification pathways across the consortium. Announcing the project, Principal Investigator of AM-Heal at SETU, David Alarco, explained that AM-Heal will build expertise in design, materials and workflows, equipping learners with the knowledge required to apply AM effectively in rehabilitation contexts. The project will also produce open-access educational materials and research-informed policy recommendations to support safe and ethical adoption of AM in medical education and professional training. "AM-Heal aims to strengthen professional education at the intersection of additive manufacturing and healthcare. Through a shared micro-credential and practical training, we want to support cross-sector collaboration, build capability, and help accelerate the safe, effective use of AM in rehabilitation and clinical education," Mr Alarco said. "This project builds on SETU's additive manufacturing education capacity developed through the HCI-funded AMASE programme (2020–2025), in collaboration with SEAM and Design+ technological gateways. The existing 3D Lab in the Engineering, Technology and Research (ETRC) Centre at SETU's Cork Road Campus in Waterford supports applied learning and project work in advanced manufacturing," he added. The project consortium brings together SETU, PODOGLOBAL (ES), Associació Meraki Projectes de València (ES), Borys Grinchenko Kyiv Metropolitan University (UA), and the University of Malta (MT). For more information on the project, see AM-Heal. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: https://anchor.fm/irish-tech-news If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
There has been a buffet of discussion as pre-packed food for students have been in the spotlight recently. Some schools have had to turn to prepared meals from centralised kitchens because of shrinking student numbers and a lack of canteen stallholders. But this has not been to everyone’s taste. Bento boxes from airline caterer SATS made the news after pictures of unappetising servings at Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) surfaced online in early January. It prompted a flurry of discussion both on and offline, as everyone weighed in with their thoughts from the colour of the boxes – turquoise – to the dishes served to what pre-packed meals takes away from the recess experience. The media was later invited to HCI to taste the food and speak to students, who gave reviews about the SATS pre-packed meals. The school’s principal said the menus will be refined, and SATS will relook recipes and food presentation. Then on Jan 14, concerns emerged over food safety after 60 primary school pupils came down with suspected food poisoning after consuming food prepared by Gourmetz, the school’s caterer. In this week’s episode of The Usual Place, I chat with two canteen stall operators, Ms Nurkusmawati Kasim, who runs a Western food stall in a primary school, and Ms Grace Lim, who operates a snack stall in a primary and secondary school, about their experience providing meals for students. Jalan Besar GRC MP Shawn Loh, who is the group managing director of food conglomerate Commonwealth Capital Group, joins us to discuss whether there are alternatives to the central kitchen model. Highlights (click/tap above): 0:55 Were the reactions to Hwa Chong Institution bento boxes overblown? 6:17 Why Grace and Wati chose to work in school canteens 9:22 Crafting menus for students 11:54 Healthy meals affects operating cost 14:43 Can you make money as a canteen stall vendor? 18:25 I just wanted to kill time when my son’s at school: Wati 20:47 Why central kitchens work for schools 22:13 Why Shawn champions a model where prepped ingredients are cooked on-site 25:35 Wati’s experience as a former air stewardess is handy when feeding masses 27:24 Do we romanticise recess time? 32:24 Cafeteria model offers control over nutritional value of food 34:50 What would entice people to become canteen vendors? 37:03 “Meal prep is the least efficient way.”: Shawn Follow The Usual Place podcast on IG: https://www.instagram.com/theusualplacepodcast Follow Natasha on LinkedIn: https://str.sg/v6DN Filmed by: Studio+65 Edited by: Teo Tong Kai, Eden Soh and Chen Junyi Executive producers: Danson Cheong, Elizabeth Khor & Ernest Luis Editorial producers: Elizabeth Law & Lynda Hong Follow The Usual Place Podcast and get notified for new episode drops every Thursday: Channel: https://str.sg/5nfm Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/9ijX Spotify: https://str.sg/cd2P YouTube: https://str.sg/theusualplacepodcast Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg SPH Awedio app: https://www.awedio.sg --- Follow more ST podcast channels: All-in-one ST Podcasts channel: https://str.sg/wvz7 Get more updates: http://str.sg/stpodcasts --- Get The Straits Times app, which has a dedicated podcast player section: The App Store: https://str.sg/icyB Google Play: https://str.sg/icyX -- #tup #tuptrSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This podcast is a recording of a webinar, presented by Oonagh Gilvarry, Chief Research Officer at HCI. Oonagh provides an overview of the most serious risk areas emerging from recent inspections and help providers recognise these red flags within their own services before they escalate. Learn more about HCI's supports for nursing homes at hci.care.
In today's episode of BizNews Daybreak, Alec Hogg covers a dramatic morning for global and local markets. The Trump administration ramps up pressure on Venezuela with oil tanker seizures, while we hear of escalating repression of the population by Maduro's underlings. Locally, the JSE sees action as HCI sells its 65% stake in Hermanus's biggest shopping mall for R600m and the ASP Isotopes-Renergen deal officially closes. Plus, regulators slam Novus for "conscious lying" in the Mustek takeover, with its chairman deeply implicated. Plus, mining guru Peter Major explains why portfolio favourite Orion Minerals has surged 36% this week.
Dr. DebWhat if I told you that the stomach acid medication you’re taking for heartburn is actually causing the problem it’s supposed to solve that your doctor learned virtually nothing about nutrition, despite spending 8 years in medical school. That the very system claiming to heal you was deliberately designed over a hundred years ago by an oil tycoon, John D. Rockefeller, to create lifelong customers, not healthy people. Last week a patient spent thousands of dollars on tests and treatments for acid reflux, only to discover she needed more stomach acid, not less. The medication keeping her sick was designed to do exactly that. Today we’re exposing the greatest medical deception in modern history, how a petroleum empire systematically destroyed natural healing wisdom turned medicine into a profit machine. And why the treatments, keeping millions sick were engineered that way from the beginning. This isn’t about conspiracy theories. This is a documented history that explains why you feel so lost about your own body’s needs welcome back to let’s talk wellness. Now the show where we uncover the root causes of chronic illness, explore cutting edge regenerative medicine, and empower you with the tools to heal. I’m Dr. Deb. And today we’re diving into how the Rockefeller Medical Empire systematically destroyed natural healing wisdom and replaced it with profit driven systems that keeps you dependent on treatments instead of achieving true health. If you or someone you love has been running to the doctor for every minor ailment, taking acid blockers that seem to make digestive problems worse, or feeling confused about basic body functions that our ancestors understood instinctively. This episode is for you. So, as usual, grab a cup of coffee, tea, or whatever helps you unwind. Settle in and let’s get started on your journey to reclaiming your health sovereignty all right. So here we are talking about the Rockefeller Medical Revolution. Now, what if your symptoms aren’t true diagnosis, but rather the predictable result of a medical system designed over a hundred years ago to create lifelong customers instead of healthy people. Now I learned this when I was in naturopathic school over 20 years ago. And it hasn’t been talked about a lot until recently. Recently. People are exposing the truth about what actually happened in our medical system. And today I want to take you back to the early 19 hundreds to understand how we lost the basic health wisdom that sustained humanity for thousands of years. Yes, I said that thousands of years. This isn’t conspiracy theory. This is documented history. That explains why you feel so lost when it comes to your own body’s needs. You know by the turn of the 20th century. According to meridian health Clinic’s documentation. Rockefeller controlled 90% of all petroleum refineries in America and through ownership of the Standard Oil Corporation. But Rockefeller saw an opportunity that went far beyond oil. He recognized that petrochemicals could be the foundation for a completely new medical system. And here’s what most people don’t know. Natural and herbal medicines were very popular in America during the early 19 hundreds. According to Staywell, Copper’s historical analysis, almost one half of medical colleges and doctors in America were practicing holistic medicine, using extensive knowledge from Europe and native American traditions. People understood that food was medicine, that the body had natural healing mechanisms, and that supporting these mechanisms was the key to health. But there was a problem with the Rockefeller’s business plan. Natural medicines couldn’t be patented. They couldn’t make a lot of money off of them, because they couldn’t hold a patent. Petrochemicals, however, could be patented, could be owned, and could be sold for high profits. So Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie devised a systematic plan to eliminate natural medicine and replace it with petrochemical based pharmaceuticals and according to E. Richard Brown’s comprehensive academic documentation in Rockefeller, medicine men. Medicine, and capitalism in America. They employed the services of Abraham Flexner, who proceeded to visit and assess every single medical school in us and in Canada. Within a very short time of this development, medical schools all around the us began to collapse or consolidate. The numbers are staggering. By 1910 30 schools had merged, and 21 had closed their doors of the 166 medical colleges operating in 19 0, 4, a hundred 33 had survived by 1910 and a hundred 4 by 1915, 15 years later, only 76 schools of medicine existed in the Us. And they all followed the same curriculum. This wasn’t just about changing medical education. According to Staywell’s copper historical analysis. Rockefeller and Carnegie influenced insurance companies to stop covering holistic treatments. Medical professionals were trained in the new pharmaceutical model and natural solutions became outdated or forgotten. Not only that alternative healthcare practitioners who wanted to stay practicing in alternative medicine were imprisoned for doing so as documented by the potency number 710. The goal was clear, create a system where scientists would study how plants cure disease, identify which chemicals in the plants were effective and then recreate a similar but not identical chemical in the laboratory that would be patented. E. Richard Brown’s documents. The story of how a powerful professional elite gained virtual homogeny in the western theater of healing by effectively taking control of the ethos and practice of Western medicine. The result, according to the healthcare spending data, the United States now spends 17.6% of its Gdp on health care 4.9 trillion dollars in 2023, or 14,570 per person nearly twice as much as the average Oecd country. But it doesn’t focus on cure. But on symptoms, and thus creating recurring clients. This systematic destruction of natural medicine explains why today’s healthcare providers often seem baffled by simple questions about nutrition why they immediately reach for a prescription medication for minor ailments, and why so many people feel disconnected from their own body’s wisdom. We’ve been trained over 4 generations to believe that our bodies are broken, and that symptoms are diseases rather than messages, and that external interventions are always superior to supporting natural healing processes. But here’s what they couldn’t eliminate your body’s innate wisdom. Your digestive system still functions the same way it did a hundred years ago. Your immune system still follows the same patterns. The principles of nutrition, movement and stress management haven’t changed. We’ve just forgotten how to listen and respond. We’re gonna take a small break here and hear from our sponsor. When we come back. We’re gonna talk about the acid reflux deception, and why your cure is making you sicker, so don’t go away all right, welcome back. So I want to give you a perfect example of how Rockefeller medicine has turned natural body wisdom upside down, the treatment of acid, reflux, and heartburn. Every single day in my practice I see patients who’ve been taking acid blocker medications, proton pump inhibitors like prilosec nexium or prevacid for years, not for weeks, years, and sometimes even decades. They come to me because their digestive problems are getting worse, not better. They have bloating and gas and nutrition deficiencies. And we’re seeing many more increased food sensitivities. And here’s what’s happening in the Us. Most people often attribute their digestive problems to too much stomach acid. And they use medications to suppress the stomach acid, but, in fact symptoms of chronic acid, reflux, heartburn, or gerd, can also be caused by too little stomach acid, a condition called hyper. Sorry hypochlorhydria normal stomach acid has a Ph level of one to 2, which is highly acidic. Hydrochloric acid plays an important role in your digestion and your immunity. It helps to break down proteins and absorb essential nutrients, and it helps control viruses and bacteria that might otherwise infect your stomach. But here’s the crucial part that most people don’t understand, and, according to Cleveland clinic, your stomach secretes lower amounts of hydrochloric acid. As you age. Hypochlorhydria is more common in people over the age of 40, and even more common over the age of 65. Webmd states that the stomach acid can produce less acid as a result of aging and being 65 or older is a risk factor for developing hypochlorhydria. We’ve been treating this in my practice for a long time. It’s 1 of the main foundations that we learn as naturopathic practitioners and as naturopathic doctors, and there are times where people need these medications, but they were designed to be used short term not long term in a 2,013 review published in Medical News today, they found that hypochlorhydria is the main change in the stomach acid of older adults. and when you have hypochlorydria, poor digestion from the lack of stomach, acid can create gas bubbles that rise into your esophagus or throat, carrying stomach acid with them. You experience heartburn and assume that you have too much acid. So you take acid blockers which makes the underlying problem worse. Now, here’s something that will shock you. PPI’s protein pump inhibitors were originally studied and approved by the FDA for short-term use only according to research published in us pharmacists, most cases of peptic ulcers resolve in 6 to 8 weeks with PPI therapy, which is what these medications were created for. Originally the American family physician reports that for erosive esophagitis. Omeprazole is indicated for short term 4 to 8 weeks. That’s it. Treatment and healing and done if needed. An additional 4 to 8 weeks of therapy may be considered and the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy, States. Guidelines recommended a treatment duration of 8 weeks with standard once a day dosing for a PPI for Gerd. The Canadian family physician, published guidelines where a team of healthcare professionals recommended prescribing Ppis in adults who suffer from heartburn and who have completed a minimum treatment of 4 weeks in which symptoms were relieved. Yet people are taking these medications for years, even decades far beyond their intended duration of use and a study published in Pmc. Found that the threshold for defining long-term PPI use varied from 2 weeks to 7 years of PPI use. But the most common definition was greater than one year or 6 months, according to the research in clinical context, use of Ppis for more than 8 weeks could be reasonably defined as long-term use. Now let’s talk about what these acid blocker medications are actually doing to your body when used. Long term. The research on long term PPI use is absolutely alarming. According to the comprehensive review published in pubmed central Pmc. Long-term use of ppis have been associated with serious adverse effects, including kidney disease, cardiovascular disease fractures because you’re not absorbing your nutrients, and you’re being depleted. Infections, including C. Diff pneumonia, micronutrient deficiencies and hypomagnesium a low level of magnesium anemia, vitamin, b, deficiency, hypocalcemia, low calcium, low potassium. and even cancers, including gastric cancer, pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer. And hepatic cancer and we are seeing all of these cancers on a rise, and we are now linking them back to some of these medications. Mayo clinic proceedings published research showing that recent studies regarding long-term use of PPI medication have noted potential adverse effects, including risks of fracture, pneumonia, C diff, which is a diarrhea. It’s a bacteria, low magnesium, low b 12 chronic kidney disease and even dementia. And a 2024 study published in nature communications, analyzing over 2 million participants from 5 cohorts found that PPI use correlated with increased risk of 15 leading global diseases, such as ischemic heart disease. Diabetes, respiratory infections, chronic kidney disease. And these associations showed dose response relationships and consistency across different PPI types. Now think about this. You take a medication for heartburn that was designed for 4 to 8 weeks of use, and when used long term, it actually increases your risk of life, threatening infections, kidney disease, and dementia. This is the predictable result of suppressing a natural body function that exists for important reasons. Hci plays a key role in many physiological processes. It triggers, intestinal hormones, prepares folate and B 12 for absorption, and it’s essential for absorption of minerals, including calcium, magnesium, potassium, zinc, and iron. And when you block acid production, you create a cascade of nutritional deficiencies and immune system problems that often manifest as seemingly unrelated health issues. So what’s the natural approach? Instead of suppressing stomach acid, we need to support healthy acid production and address the root cause of reflux healthcare. Providers may prescribe hcl supplements like betaine, hydrochloric acid. Bhcl is what it’s called. Sometimes it’s called betaine it’s often combined with enzymes like pepsin or amylase or lipase, and it’s used to treat hydrochloric acid deficiency, hypochlorhydria. These supplements can help your digestion and sometimes help your stomach acid gradually return back to normal levels where you may not need to use them all the time. Simple strategies include consuming protein at the beginning of the meal to stimulate Hcl production, consume fluids separately at least 30 min away from meals, if you can, and address the underlying cause like chronic stress and H. Pylori infections. This is such a sore subject for me. So many people walk around with an H. Pylori infection. It’s a bacterial infection in the stomach that can cause stomach ulcers, causes a lot of stomach pain and burning. and nobody is treating the infection. It’s a bacterial infection. We don’t treat this anymore with antibiotics or antimicrobials. We treat it with Ppis. But, Ppis don’t fix the problem. You have to get rid of the bacteria once the bacteria is gone, the gut lining can heal. Now it is a common bacteria. It can reoccur quite frequently. It’s highly contagious, so you can pick it up from other people, and it may need multiple courses of treatment over a person’s lifetime. But you’re actually treating the problem. You’re getting rid of the bacteria that’s creating the issue instead of suppressing the acid. That’s not fixing the bacteria which then leads to a whole host of other problems that we just talked about. There are natural approaches to increase stomach acid, including addressing zinc deficiency. And since the stomach uses zinc to produce Hcl. Taking probiotics to help support healthy gut bacteria and using digestive bitters before meals can be really helpful. This is exactly what I mean about reclaiming the body’s wisdom. Instead of suppressing natural functions, we support them instead of creating drug dependency, we restore normal physiology. Instead of treating symptoms indefinitely, we address the root cause and help the body heal itself. In many cultures. Bitters is a common thing to use before or after a meal. But yet in the American culture we don’t do that anymore. We’ve not passed on that tradition. So very few people understand how to use bitters, or what bitters are, or why they’re important. And these basic things that can be used in your food and cooking and taking could replace thousands of dollars of medication that you don’t really need. That can create many more problems along the way. Now, why does your doctor know nothing about nutrition. Well, I want to address something that might shock you all. The reason your doctor seems baffled when you ask about nutrition isn’t because they’re not intelligent. It’s because they literally never learned this in medical school statistics on nutritional education in medical schools are staggering and help explain why we have such a health literacy crisis in America. According to recent research published in multiple academic journals, only 27% of Us. Medical schools actually offer students. The recommended 25 h of nutritional training across 4 years of medical school. That means 73% of the medical schools don’t even meet the minimum standards set in 1985. But wait, it gets worse. A 2021 survey of medical schools in the Us. And the Uk. Found that most students receive an average of only 11 h of nutritional training throughout their entire medical program. and another recent study showed that in 2023 a survey of more than a thousand Us. Medical students. About 58% of these respondents said they received no formal nutritional education while in medical school. For 4 years those who did averaged only 3 h. I’m going to say this again because it’s it’s huge 3 h of nutritional education per year. So let me put this in perspective during 4 years of medical school most students spend fewer than 20 h on nutrition that’s completely disproportionate to its health benefits for patients to compare. They’ll spend hundreds of hours learning about pharmaceutical interventions, but virtually no time learning how food affects health and disease. Now, could this be? Why, when we talk about nutrition to lower cholesterol levels or control your diabetes, they blow you off, and they don’t answer you. It’s because they don’t understand. But yet what they’ll say is, people won’t change their diet. That’s why you have to take medication. That’s not true. I will tell you. I work with people every single day who are willing to change their diet. They’re just confused by all the information that’s out there today about nutrition. And what diet is the right diet to follow? Do I do, Paleo? Do I do? Aip? Do I do carnivore? Do I do, Keto? Do I do? Low carb? There’s so many diets out there today? It’s confusing people. So I digress. But let’s go back. So here’s the kicker. The limited time medical students do spend on nutrition office often focuses on nutrients think proteins and carbohydrates rather than training in topics such as motivational interviewing or meal planning, and as one Stanford researcher noted, we physicians often sound like chemists rather than counselors who can speak with patients about diet. Isn’t that true? We can speak super high level up here, but we can’t talk basics about nutrition. And this explains why only 14% of the physicians believe they were adequately trained in nutritional counseling. Once they entered practice and without foundational concepts of nutrition in undergrad work. Graduate medical education unsurprisingly falls short of meeting patients, needs for nutritional guidance in clinical practice, and meanwhile diet, sensitive chronic diseases continue to escalate. Although they are largely preventable and treatable by nutritional therapies and dietary. Lifestyle changes. Now think about this. Diet. Related diseases are the number one cause of death in the Us. The number one cause. Yet many doctors receive little to no nutritional education in medical school, and according to current health statistics from 2017 to march of 2020. Obesity prevalence was 19.7% among us children and adolescents affecting approximately 14.7 million young people. About 352,000 Americans, under the age of 20, have been diagnosed with diabetes. Let me say this again, because these numbers are astounding to me. 352,000 Americans, under the age of 20, have been diagnosed with diabetes with 5,300 youth diagnosed with type, 2 diabetes annually. Yet the very professionals we turn to for health. Guidance were never taught how food affects these conditions and what drug has come to the rescue Glp. One S. Ozempic wegovy. They’re great for weight loss. They’re great for treating diabetes. But why are they here? Well, these numbers are. Why, they’re here. This is staggering to put 352,000 Americans under the age of 20 on a glp, one that they’re going to be on for the rest of their lives at a minimum of $1,200 per month. All we have to do is do the math, you guys, and we can see exactly what’s happening to our country, and who is getting rich, and who is getting the short end of the stick. You’ve become a moneymaker to the pharmaceutical industry because nobody has taught you how to eat properly, how to live, how to have a healthy lifestyle, and how to prevent disease, or how to actually reverse type 2 diabetes, because it’s reversible in many cases, especially young people. And we do none of that. All we do is prescribe medications. Metformin. Glp, one for the rest of your life from 20 years old to 75, or 80, you’re going to be taking medications that are making the pharmaceutical companies more wealth and creating a disease on top of a disease on top of a disease. These deficiencies in nutritional education happen at all levels of medical training, and there’s been little improvement, despite decades of calls for reform. In 1985, the National Academy of Sciences report that they recommended at least 25 h of nutritional education in medical school. But a 2015 study showed only 29% of medical schools met this goal, and a 2023 study suggests the problem has become even worse. Only 7.8% of medical students reported 20 or more hours of nutritional education across all 4 years of medical school. This systemic lack of nutrition, nutritional education has been attributed to several factors a dearth of qualified instructors for nutritional courses, since most physicians do not understand nutrition well enough to teach it competition for curriculum time, with schools focusing on pharmaceutical interventions rather than lifestyle medicine and a lack of external incentives that support schools, teaching nutrition. And ironically, many medical schools are part of universities that have nutrition departments with Phd. Trained professors who could fill this gap by teaching nutrition in medical schools but those classes are often taught by physicians who may not have adequate nutritional training themselves. This explains so much about what I see in my practice. Patients come to me confused and frustrated because their primary care doctors can’t answer basic questions about how food affects their health conditions. And these doctors aren’t incompetent. They simply were never taught this information. And the result is that these physicians graduate, knowing how to prescribe medications for diabetes, but not how dietary changes can prevent or reverse it. They can treat high blood pressure with pharmaceuticals, but they may not know that specific nutritional approaches can be equally or more effective. This isn’t the doctor’s fault. It’s the predictable result of medical education systems that was deliberately designed to focus on patentable treatments rather than natural healing approaches. And remember this traces back to the Rockefeller influence on medical education. You can’t patent an apple or a vegetable. But you can patent a drug now. Why can’t we trust most medical studies? Well this just gets even better. I need to address something that’s crucial for you to understand as you navigate health information. Why so much of the medical research you hear about in the news is biased, and why peer Review isn’t the gold standard of truth you’ve been told it is. The corruption in medical research by pharmaceutical companies is not a conspiracy theory. It’s well documented scientific fact, according to research, published in frontiers, in research, metrics and analytics. When pharmaceutical and other companies sponsor research, there is a bias. A systematic tendency towards results serving their interests. But the bias is not seen in the formal factors routinely associated with low quality science. A Cochrane Review analyzed 75 studies of the association between industry, funding, and trial results, and these authors concluded that trials funded by a drug or device company were more likely to have positive conclusions and statistically significant results, and that this association could not be explained by differences in risk of bias between industry and non-industry funded trials. So think about that. According to the Cochrane collaboration, industry funding itself should be considered a standard risk of bias, a factor in clinical trials. Studies published in science and engineering ethics show that industry supported research is much more likely to yield positive outcomes than research with any other sponsorship. And here’s how the bias gets introduced through choice of compartor agents, multiple publications of positive trials and non-publication of negative trials reinterpreting data submitted to regulatory agencies, discordance between results and conclusions, conflict of interest leading to more positive conclusions, ghostwriting and the use of seating trials. Research, published in the American Journal of Medicine. Found that a result favorable to drug study was reported by all industry, supported studies compared with two-thirds of studies, not industry, supported all industry, supported studies showed favorable results. That’s not science that’s marketing, masquerading as research. And according to research, published in sciencedirect the peer review system which we’re told ensures quality. Science has a major limitation. It has proved to be unable to deal with conflicts of interest, especially in big science contexts where prestigious scientists may have similar biases and conflicts of interest are widely shared among peer reviewers. Even government funded research can have conflicts of interest. Research published in pubmed States that there are significant benefits to authors and investigators in participating in government funded research and to journals in publishing it, which creates potentially biased information that are rarely acknowledged. And, according to research, published in frontiers in research, metrics, and analytics, the pharmaceutical industry has essentially co-opted medical knowledge systems for their particular interests. Using its very substantial resources. Pharmaceutical companies take their own research and smoothly integrate it into medical science. Taking advantage of the legitimacy of medical institutions. And this corruption means that much of what passes for medical science is actually influenced by commercial interests rather than pursuant of truth. Research published in Pmc. Shows that industry funding affects the results of clinical trials in predictable directions, serving the interests of the funders rather than the patients. So where can we get this reliable, unbiased Health information, because this is critically important, because your health decisions should be based on the best available evidence, not marketing disguised as science. And so here are some sources that I recommend for trustworthy health and nutritional information. They’re independent academic sources. According to Harvard Chan School of public health their nutritional, sourced, implicitly states their content is free from industry, influence, or support. The Linus Pauling Institute, Micronutrient Information Center at Oregon State University, which, according to the Glendale Community college Research Guide provides scientifically accurate information about vitamins, minerals, and other dietary factors. This Institute has been around for decades. I’ve used it a lot. I’ve gotten a lot of great information from them. Very, very trustworthy. According to the Glendale Community College of Nutrition Resource guide Tufts, University of Human Nutritional Research Center on aging is one of 6 human nutrition research centers supported by the United States Department of Agriculture, the Usda. Their peer reviewed journals with strong editorial independence though you must still check funding resources. And how do you evaluate this information? Online? Well, according to medlineplus and various health literacy guides when evaluating health information medical schools and large professional or nonprofit organizations are generally reliable sources, but remember, it is tainted by the Rockefeller method. So, for example, the American College of cardiology. Excuse me. Professional organization and the American Heart Institute a nonprofit are both reliable sources. Sorry about that of information on heart health and watch out for ads designed to look like neutral health information. If the site is funded by ads they should be clearly marked as advertisements. Excuse me, I guess I’m talking just a little too much now. So when the fear of medicine becomes deadly. Now, I want to address something critically important that often gets lost in conversations about health, sovereignty, and questioning the medical establishment. And while I’ve spent most of this episode explaining how the Rockefeller medical system has created dependency and suppressed natural healing wisdom. There’s a dangerous pendulum swing happening that I see in my practice. People becoming so fearful of pharmaceutical interventions that they refuse lifesaving treatments when they’re genuinely needed. This is where balance and clinical judgment become absolutely essential. Yes, we need to reclaim our basic health literacy and reduce our dependency on unnecessary medical interventions. But there are serious bacterial infections that require immediate antibiotic treatment, and the consequences of avoiding treatment can be devastating or even fatal. So let me share some examples from research that illustrate when antibiotic fear becomes dangerous. Let’s talk about Lyme disease, and when natural approaches might not be enough. The International Lyme Disease Association ilads has conducted extensive research on chronic lyme disease, and their findings are sobering. Ileds defines chronic lyme disease as a multi-system illness that results from an active and ongoing infection of pathogenic members of the Borrelia Brdorferi complex. And, according to ilads research published in their treatment guidelines, the consequences of untreated persistent lyme infection far outweigh the potential consequences of long-term antibiotic therapy in well-designed trials of antibiotic retreatment in patients with severe fatigue, 64% in the treatment arm obtained clinically significant and sustained benefit from additional antibiotic therapy. Ilas emphasizes that cases of chronic borrelia require individualized treatment plans, and when necessary antibiotic therapy should be extended their research demonstrates that 20 days of prophylactic antibiotic treatment may be highly effective for preventing the onset of lyme disease. After known tick bites and patients with early Lyme disease may be best served by receiving 4 to 6 weeks of antibiotic therapy. Research published in Pmc. Shows that patients with untreated infections may go on to develop chronic, debilitating, multisystem illnesses that is difficult to manage, and numerous studies have documented persistent Borrelia, burgdorferi infection in patients with persistent symptoms of neurological lyme disease following short course. Antibiotic treatment and animal models have demonstrated that short course. Antibiotic therapy may fail to eradicate lyme spirochetes short course is a 1 day. One pill treatment of doxycycline. Or less than 20 days of antibiotics, is considered a short course. It’s not long enough to kill the bacteria. The bacteria’s life cycle is about 21 days, so if you don’t treat the infection long enough, the likelihood of that infection returning is significant. They’ve also done studies in the petri dish, where they show doxycycline being put into a petri dish with active lyme and doxycycline does not kill the infection, it just slows the replication of it. Therefore, using only doxycycline, which is common practice in lyme disease may not completely eradicate that infection for you. So let’s talk about another life threatening emergency. C. Diff clostridia difficile infection, which represents another example where antibiotic treatment is absolutely essential, despite the fact that C diff itself is often triggered by antibiotic use. According to Cleveland clinic C. Diff is estimated to cause almost half a million infections in the United States each year, with 500,000 infections, causing 15,000 deaths each year. Studies reported by Pmc. Found thirty-day Cdi. Mortality rates ranging from 6 to 11% and hospitalized Cdi patients have significantly increased the risk of mortality and complications. Research published in Pmc shows that 16.5% of Cdi patients experience sepsis and that this increases with reoccurrences 27.3% of patients with their 1st reoccurrence experience sepsis. While 33.1% with 2 reoccurrences and 43.2% with 3 or more reoccurrences. Mortality associated with sepsis is very high within hospital 30 days and 12 month mortality rates of 24%, 30% and 58% respectively. According to the Cdc treatment for C diff infection usually involves taking a specific antibiotic, such as vancomycin for at least 10 days, and while this seems counterintuitive, treating an antibiotic associated infection with more antibiotics. It’s often lifesaving. Now let’s talk about preventing devastating complications. Strep throat infections. Provide perhaps the clearest example of when antibiotic treatment prevents serious long-term consequences, and, according to Mayo clinic, if untreated strep throat can cause complications such as kidney inflammation and rheumatic fever. Rheumatic fever can lead to painful and inflamed joints, and a specific type of rash of heart valve damage. We also know that strep can cause pans pandas, which is a systemic infection, often causing problems with severe Ocd. And anxiety and affecting mostly young people. The research is unambiguous. According to the Cleveland clinic. Rheumatic fever is a rare complication of untreated strep, throat, or scarlet fever that most commonly affects children and teens, and in severe cases it can lead to serious health problems that can affect your child’s heart. Joints and organs. And research also shows that the rate of development of rheumatic fever in individuals with untreated strep infections is estimated to be 3%. The incidence of reoccurrence with a subsequent untreated infection is substantially greater. About 50% the rate of development is far lower in individuals who have received antibiotic treatment. And according to the World health organization, rheumatic heart disease results from the inflammation and scarring of the heart valves caused by rheumatic fever, and if rheumatic fever is not treated promptly, rheumatic heart disease may occur, and rheumatic heart disease weakens the valves between the chambers of the heart, and severe rheumatic heart disease can require heart surgery and result in death. The who states that rheumatic heart disease remains the leading cause of maternal cardiac complications during pregnancy. And additionally, according to the National Kidney foundation. After your child has either had throat or skin strep infection, they can develop post strep glomerial nephritis. The Strep bacteria travels to the kidneys and makes the filtering units of the kidneys inflamed, causing the kidneys to be able to unable or less able to fill and filter urine. This can develop one to 2 weeks after an untreated throat infection, or 3 to 4 weeks after an untreated skin infection. We need to find balance. And here’s what I want you to understand. Questioning the medical establishment and developing health literacy doesn’t mean rejecting all medical interventions. It means developing the wisdom to know when they’re necessary and lifesaving versus when they’re unnecessary and potentially harmful. When I see patients with confirmed lyme disease, serious strep infections or life. Threatening conditions like C diff. I don’t hesitate to recommend appropriate therapy but I also work to support their overall health address, root causes, protect and restore their gut microbiome and help them recover their natural resilience. The goal isn’t to avoid all medical interventions. It’s to use them wisely when truly needed, while simultaneously supporting your body’s inherent healing capacity and addressing the lifestyle factors that created the vulnerability. In the 1st place. All of this can be extremely overwhelming, and it can be frightening to understand or learn. But remember, the power that you have is knowledge. The more you learn about what’s actually happening in your health, in understanding nutrition. in learning what your body wants to be fed, and how it feels, and working with practitioners who are holistic in nature, natural, integrative, functional, whatever we want to call that these days. The more you can learn from them, the more control you have over your own health and what I would urge you to do is to teach your children what you’re learning. Teach them how to live a healthy lifestyle, teach them how to keep a clean environment. This is how we take back our own health. So thank you for joining me today on, let’s talk wellness. Now, if this episode resonated with you. Please share it with someone who could benefit from understanding how the Rockefeller medical system has shaped our approach to health, and how to reclaim your body’s wisdom while using medical care appropriately when truly needed. Remember, wellness isn’t just about feeling good. It’s about understanding your body, trusting its wisdom, supporting its natural healing capacity, and knowing when to seek appropriate medical intervention. If you’re ready to explore how functional medicine can help you develop this deeper health knowledge while addressing root causes rather than just managing symptoms. You can get more information from serenityhealthcarecenter.com, or reach out directly to us through our social media channels until next time. I’m Dr. Dab, reminding you that your body is your wisest teacher. Learn to listen, trust the process, use medical care wisely when needed, and take care of your body, mind, and spirit. Be well, and we’ll see you on the next episode.The post Episode 250 -The Great Medical Deception first appeared on Let's Talk Wellness Now.
Seize the day with the freshest news you can use to help you conquer another active business day - from the team at BizNews and our global partners. This episode features the eruption of anger between Actov Asset Managers and HCI's CEO Johnny Copelyn; a 'foot shooting' decision by the socialist Mozambican Government which will lose an economic engine that feeds 50 000 people; Warner Brothers board backs Netflix as Trump's son in law lwaves the hostile bidders; Kinetiko hits gas gold in Mpumalanga; the FT on why hedge funds are going big on physical commotities...and more.
Value investor Piet Viljoen breaks down Mr Price's German gamble, Spar's costly EU exit, Famous Brands' offshore stumble, and why HCI's buybacks make far more sense than chasing “expensive fairy tales” abroad. From Eskom's industrial rescue talks to Transnet's slow turnaround and the ANC's political bluster, Viljoen gives Alec Hogg a brutally honest roadmap for where South Africans should – and shouldn't – put their money.
Fund manager Kokkie Kooymans warns of looming global market risks as Mr Price places a bold R9.6bn offshore bet, Eskom's last-minute deal with Glencore saves 15,000 smelter jobs, Grindrod surges as a Transnet alternative, HCI buys back R650m of its shares, Uzbekistan's SOE playbook raises eyebrows, and thousands of SA expats regain citizenship through the new online portal.
Join us for a cozy Thanksgiving special as we reflect on gratitude, community, and the little joys that keep us going in the MS-HCI program. From favorite holiday foods to end-of-semester hopes, we're sharing what we're thankful for and what we're looking forward to. Perfect for a moment of calm... and a gentle nudge for those thinking about polishing their portfolios over break.
Today I unpack platinum's 60% surge, SA's new 3% inflation era, Trump's G20 snub, DA leadership turmoil and why we've shifted from Lesaka to HCI.
I unpack Prosus's pivotal interim results, the changes I'm making to our portfolios today, and why HCI has quietly become a compelling SA opportunity.
In tonight's BizNews Briefing, we unpack why Prosus – which makes up over 10% of your equity-linked retirement savings – is turning from a value destroyer into a value creator. Results reveal critical developments in China via Tencent and in Europe through Just Eat Takeaway. Locally, Pepkor impresses despite tougher debtor losses, HCI makes a strategic oil and gas leap, and Zeda delivers strong growth.
Our latest episode explores the moment AI stops being a tool and starts becoming an organizational model. Agentic systems are already redefining how work, design, and decision‑making happen, forcing leaders to abandon deterministic logic for probabilistic, adaptive systems.“Agentic systems force a mindshift—from scripts and taxonomies to semantics, intent, and action.”
In this episode, we chat with David Muñoz, Staff UX Researcher at Google, about AI image generation, career growth in tech, and what it means to be a “super IC.” We cover the future of UX, ethical AI, and how research happens at scale. Whether you're in design, research, or just curious about HCI, this one's for you.
Ever feel blindsided by someone who seemed charming, helpful, or even caring—only to realize later they were quietly dismantling your peace?This week, conflict expert Bill Eddy, author of The Five Types of People That Ruin Your Life, joins Dr. Kerry to unpack the five high-conflict personality types most likely to cause chaos in relationships, workplaces, and families.Podcast Extra Exclusive InterviewFind the exclusive second segment and weekly newsletter here. More About the Podcast Extra Interview
Black Women Been Told Y'all: The Canaries in the Coal Mine Guest: Jihan Johnston-McGlotten: Strategist, Researcher, Cultural Technologist, and Mother In this episode, Verta and Naa sit down with the brilliant Jihan Johnston-McGlotten, a Black woman navigating nine months of unemployment after a layoff. Together, they unpack what it means to be pushed out of the workforce while still holding on to creativity, clarity, and community. They explore the deeper truths behind layoffs, the pressure to produce, and the silence that often follows when Black women speak up. From systems that gaslight to the gut instincts that guide us, this is an honest conversation about being the early warning signal — and the brilliance that comes when we choose ourselves anyway. JIHAN'S BIO: Jihan Johnston-McGlotten is a strategist, researcher, and cultural technologist whose work connects technology, gaming, media, and culture to create human-centered, impactful experiences. With over 15 years of experience, she helps organizations, brands, and communities navigate AI, interactive media, gaming, and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) in ways that are meaningful, inclusive, and culturally informed. As the founder of BeatBotics, a forward-thinking creative technology and media startup, Jihan leads the development of digital experiences that are innovative, equitable, and globally relevant. Her PhD research focuses on HCI and human-centered technology, giving her a unique perspective on how people interact with AI, digital platforms, and interactive media. A mother and global thinker, she blends research, strategy, and cultural insight to translate complex technology and media trends into actionable strategies that resonate across communities. Known professionally as The Real Jihan J, she delivers keynotes, workshops, and strategic advisement for brands, nonprofits, and educational institutions, connecting people, technology, gaming, and culture to foster innovation, inclusion, and authentic human connection. Learn more about Naa & Verta here: Email: thatpart@45Lemons.com Website: www.45lemons.com/thatpart Instagram: @fortyfivelemons
The news from Northfield, Minnesota on Monday, October 6th 2025:Several Road Projects Underway in Northfield; City Council Set To Determine Rent Rates for 50 North, CAC, & HCI at the NCRC Building
I did an interview with Resolution Games CEO Tommy Palm soon after the Apple Vision Pro launch last year where we talk the in the Game Room game commissioned by Apple as well as the exploration of the relatively new gaze and pinch mechanic that's enabled with the eye-tracking of the Apple Vision Pro. After seeing the Neural Band at Meta Connect, then I'm reminded about how ultimately the gaze and pinch mechanic is a lot more efficient and more optimized for quickly selecting items in a fully volumetric context. Meta's Neural Band announced at Meta Connect in the context of the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses is only within a 2D context in a head-lock HUD display screen, and so operating the Neural Band feels a lot like what it feels like to navigate TV menus with a TV controller, but rather than a controller, then your thumb and side of your index finger are being transformed into a two-axis D-pad. Again, the ultimate form factor is likely going to come back to gaze and pinch, but that will require shipping with eye tracking. And so this unpublished conversation with Tommy Palm takes on a new context as we reflect upon the latest HCI innovations that were announced at Meta Connect and where the ultimate form factor may be headed. Resolution Games also has quite a history of launching games on newly XR devices, and so this conversation with Palm is also within that spirit, and we'll be diving into Battlemarked within the next conversation You can also see more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
I did an interview with Michael Markman at Meta Connect 2025 talking about all of the latest updates to the VR design and prototyping tool of ShapesXR, and then we start to dive into some of his hot takes after getting a chance to try out the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses and associated Neural Band. He sees that the neural band is essentially transforming your hand into a mouse that is providing a simplified navigation system (probably closer to a D-pad on a TV remote), but the index-finger-to-thumb serves as a functional left click and middle-finger-to-thumb serves as a functional right click, which has been enough to build the foundation of most modern HCI for computer software for the last 57 years since The Mother of All Demos debuted the mouse in 1968. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality
rWotD Episode 3004: Human Capital Index Welcome to random Wiki of the Day, your journey through Wikipedia's vast and varied content, one random article at a time.The random article for Friday, 25 July 2025, is Human Capital Index.The Human Capital Index (HCI) is an annual measurement prepared by the World Bank. HCI measures which countries are best in mobilizing their human capital, the economic and professional potential of their citizens. The index measures how much capital each country loses through lack of education and health. The index ranges between 0 and 1, with 1 meaning maximum potential is reached. HCI is used in country studies of employment and wages, for example in Ukraine after Russia's invasion.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:58 UTC on Friday, 25 July 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Human Capital Index on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm standard Kimberly.
In this episode of the Health Fix Podcast, Jannine Krause explores the intricate relationship between weight gain and sexual health. She discusses how changes in body weight can affect circulation, confidence, and libido, and emphasizes the importance of addressing these issues holistically. Drawing from her experiences and insights from Chinese medicine, she highlights the role of digestion, stress, and lifestyle habits in weight management. The episode also offers practical solutions, including dietary adjustments and herbal remedies, to help listeners regain balance and improve their overall health. What You'll Learn In This Episode: Weight gain can impact sexual health and libido. Circulation changes with weight gain affect confidence. Chinese medicine offers insights into weight management. Damp accumulation in the body can lead to weight gain. Stress affects liver function and digestion. Eating habits and meal timing are crucial for digestion. Herbal remedies can support digestive health. Weight gain patterns are often linked to lifestyle changes. Maintaining balance in the body is essential for health. Open communication about sexual health is important in relationships. Resources From The Show: HCL Challenge - Get Thorne Betaine HCL + Pepsin - take one capsule with meal one and watch for any burning, no burning go for 2 capsules with the next meal and increase by one capsule till you either reach 5 capsules or you have a slight burning in the stomach. The more capsules you can tolerate without a burn the more deficient in stomach acid you are. Use 1 teaspoon of baking soda in a few ounces of water and drink it. You can repeat the baking soda drink if needed. Most people will end up taking between 2-6 HCI capsules per meal. Digestive Enzymes - Steven Wright's Company "Healthy Gut" - HCL Guard + Holozymes Apex Energetics - Enzymix Pro Active Herb - herbal company Blue Poppy Herbs Herbs I mentioned in the podcast: Gui Pi Tang — For weak digestion and fluid retention. If you feel puffy or gain weight quickly after eating, this is your ally. Shan Zha Jian Zhi Pian — This one breaks down fat. It's amazing for folks who stress eat or binge on sugar. Long Dan Xie Gan Wan — Helps the liver chill out, especially if you're dealing with reflux, constipation, and bloating. Ba Zhen Tang — When you're just wiped out, lacking motivation, or not even hungry, this one helps restore yang and blood to energize the body. Liu Wei Di Huang Wan — This is a staple for perimenopause and menopause support. It nourishes yin and helps with vaginal dryness, low libido, and overall hormone balance. Chinese Medicine Patterns I talk about: Damp accumulation: That puffy, sluggish weight gain Phlegm: Which is the Chinese term often equated to fat gain Liver Qi Stagnation: When stress causes your liver to "attack" your digestion Blood and Yang Deficiency: Low energy, lack of movement, low motivation
Anthony and Katie are joined by HCI PhD candidate Matt Beaudouin-Lafon at UCSD, and discuss how HCI research intersects with industry product design. Links mentioned:Matt's work on Color FieldInk & SwitchTextoshopCreativity Support Tools paper from Ben ShneidermanHosts:Anthony Hobday, Generalist Product Designer: https://twitter.com/hobdaydesignKatie Langerman, Systems Designer: https://twitter.com/KatieLangerman
Connor Rigby joins the Elixir Wizards to talk about Blue Heron BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) support for Elixir apps. Blue Heron implements the BLE specs in pure Elixir, leveraging binary pattern matching and concurrent message processing to handle Bluetooth protocols. Unlike most solutions that require C ports or NIFs, Blue Heron runs entirely in user space, so it works seamlessly in both Nerves-based embedded projects and (eventually) desktop Elixir applications. We discuss how Nerves development differs from building Phoenix apps. Connor shares challenges he's experienced with hardware compatibility, where some chips only partially implement the spec, and he discusses the surprisingly deep (but sometimes incomplete) world of BLE device profiles. His tip for anyone entering the BLE space: read the official spec instead of trusting secondhand blog posts. Tools like Nerves LiveBook give you hands-on examples, so you can get a BLE prototype running on a Raspberry Pi and your phone in no time. Key topics discussed in this episode: Blue Heron origins and “bird” naming convention BLE vs. Bluetooth Classic: core differences Pure Elixir implementation—no C dependencies Binary pattern matching for packet parsing Hardware transport options: UART, SPI, USB, SDIO GenServer patterns in Nerves vs. Phoenix Linux requirement and power-consumption trade-offs GATT (Generic Attribute Table) implementation patterns SQLite integration for Nerves apps Hardware chip quirks and spec compliance Manufacturer-specific commands and workarounds BLE device profiles and spec gaps Security Management Profile (SMP) for encryption Device connection and pairing workflows Web vs. embedded development differences Where to get started: hardware recommendations and docs Links mentioned: https://github.com/ConnorRigby/ https://github.com/blue-heron/ https://nerves-project.org/ BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BluetoothLowEnergy https://developer.apple.com/ibeacon/ https://learnyousomeerlang.com/building-otp-applications Linux https://www.linux.org/ HCI (Host Controller Interface) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostcontrollerinterface Circuits UART Library https://hexdocs.pm/circuitsuart/readme.html SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) https://github.com/elixir-circuits/circuitsspi SDIO (Secure Digital Input Output https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SDIO Raspberry Pi https://www.raspberrypi.com/ Coral SoM Dev Board https://coral.ai/products/dev-board/ BeagleBone Single-Board Linux Computer https://www.beagleboard.org/boards/beaglebone-black https://www.bluetooth.com/bluetooth-resources/intro-to-bluetooth-gap-gatt/ Genservers https://hexdocs.pm/elixir/1.12/GenServer.html https://hexdocs.pm/ecto/Ecto.html https://github.com/elixir-sqlite/ectosqlite3 https://github.com/nerves-livebook/nerveslivebook Special Guest: Connor Rigby.
Brad Myers is the Charles M. Geschke Director of the Human-Computer Interaction Institute and Professor in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, with an affiliated faculty appointment in the Software and Societal Systems Department. He's also the author of a new book, "Pick, Click, Flick! The Story of Interaction Techniques." In this episode, he discusses the importance of usability in design, notable failures in user interface design, and the future of Human-Computer Interaction. Key Takeaways:- Historic HCI failures- What is HCI?- How AI will affect HCI?Episode Timeline:1:45What is the Human-Computer Interaction field?3:30The evolution of interaction techniques6:30Designing for usability and intuition09:40Historic failures in user interface design10:30Why Clippy didn't work14:30The history of copy and paste18:00Mac or PC?21:30The future of HCI and AI integrationThis episode's guest:• Buy Brad's Book "Pick, Click, Flick! The Story of Interaction Techniques." Subscribe and leave a 5-star review: https://pod.link/1496390646Contact Us!•Join the conversation by leaving a comment!•Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn!Thanks for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
“The buzz in LLMs now is all about training data” Andy Edmonds has an MS in Human Factors, Applied Psychology from Clemson University. He started his working career as a webmaster in 1995 and has since developed a huge breadth of expertise in UX, e-commerce, web analytics, online experimentation, data science, information retrieval, and software development methods at tech companies including Microsoft, eBay, RedBubble, Adobe, Facebook, and LinkedIn. He is now a product manager at Quora. He also holds nine patents. Andy Edmonds on LinkedIn Tabtopia on Github Anthropic blog Topics include: – experimental design – cognitive science – applied psychology – data science – HCI (human computer interaction) – LLMs (large language models) – QuoraThe post Episode #71: Andy Edmonds first appeared on Linguistics Careercast.
Roderic Crooks is an associate professor in the Department of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine. His research examines how the use of digital technology by public institutions contributes to the minoritization of working-class communities of color. His current project explores how community organizers in working-class communities of color use data for activist projects, even as they dispute the proliferation of data-intensive technologies in education, law enforcement, financial services, and other vital sites of public life. He has published extensively in HCI, STS, and social science venues on topics including political theories of online participation, equity of access to information and media technologies, and document theory. He is the author Access Is Capture: How Edtech Reproduces Racial Inequality, published in 2024 by the University of California Press (https://www.ucpress.edu/books/access-is-capture/paper). Access is Capture Racially and economically segregated schools across the United States have hosted many interventions from commercial digital education technology (edtech) companies who promise their products will rectify the failures of public education. Edtech's benefits are not only trumpeted by industry promoters and evangelists but also vigorously pursued by experts, educators, students, and teachers. Why, then, has edtech yet to make good on its promises? In Access Is Capture, Roderic N. Crooks investigates how edtech functions in Los Angeles public schools that exclusively serve Latinx and Black communities. These so-called urban schools are sites of intense, ongoing technological transformation, where the tantalizing possibilities of access to computing meet the realities of structural inequality. Crooks shows how data-intensive edtech delivers value to privileged individuals and commercial organizations but never to the communities that hope to share in the benefits. He persuasively argues that data-drivenness ultimately enjoins the public to participate in a racial project marked by the extraction of capital from minoritized communities to enrich the tech sector.Links:Amazon listing for Access Is CaptureUniversity of California Press page for Access Is CaptureAuthor's personal websiteTalks and events from Civics of Technology featuring Roderic N. CrooksArticle co-authored by Crooks discussing intersectional themes in feminist formations Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
New to Atlanta? We've got you covered.In this episode, current HCI master's students join the Hive to share their real experiences moving to Atlanta for grad school — from navigating the city to defining what success in grad school means to them to building a new community. Whether you're packing your bags or just curious about what's ahead, tune in for tips, stories, and encouragement! Also, a very hearty welcome to the class of 2027!Our guests today:Parnian Vafa - https://www.linkedin.com/in/parvaf3830/Umme Ammara - https://www.linkedin.com/in/umme-ammara/Hosted by:Manuni Dhruv - https://www.linkedin.com/in/manunidhruv/Rajath Pai - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajath-pai-k/Edited by: Manuni Dhruv
Recently Broadcom announced that vSAN ESA support for SAP HANA was introduced. Erik Rieger is Broadcom's Principal SAP Global Technical Alliance Manager and Architect, and as such I invited him on the show to go over what this actually means, and why this is important for customers!For more details make sure to check:SAP note 3406060 – SAP HANA on VMware vSphere 8 and vSAN 8 for details.SAP HANA and VMware support pagesSAP HANA on HCI powered by vSANvSphere and SAP HANA best practicesDisclaimer: The thoughts and opinions shared in this podcast are our own/guest(s), and not necessarily those of Broadcom, VMware by Broadcom, or SAP.
This Week in Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence (AI) Podcast
Today we're joined by Victor Dibia, principal research software engineer at Microsoft Research, to explore the key trends and advancements in AI agents and multi-agent systems shaping 2025 and beyond. In this episode, we discuss the unique abilities that set AI agents apart from traditional software systems–reasoning, acting, communicating, and adapting. We also examine the rise of agentic foundation models, the emergence of interface agents like Claude with Computer Use and OpenAI Operator, the shift from simple task chains to complex workflows, and the growing range of enterprise use cases. Victor shares insights into emerging design patterns for autonomous multi-agent systems, including graph and message-driven architectures, the advantages of the “actor model” pattern as implemented in Microsoft's AutoGen, and guidance on how users should approach the ”build vs. buy” decision when working with AI agent frameworks. We also address the challenges of evaluating end-to-end agent performance, the complexities of benchmarking agentic systems, and the implications of our reliance on LLMs as judges. Finally, we look ahead to the future of AI agents in 2025 and beyond, discuss emerging HCI challenges, their potential for impact on the workforce, and how they are poised to reshape fields like software engineering. The complete show notes for this episode can be found at https://twimlai.com/go/718.
Replit is one of the most visible and exciting companies reshaping how we approach software and application development in the Generative AI era. In this episode, we sit down with its CEO, Amjad Masad, for an in-depth discussion on all things AI, agents, and software. Amjad shares the journey of building Replit, from its humble beginnings as a student side project to becoming a major player in Generative AI today. We also discuss the challenges of launching a startup, the multiple attempts to get into Y Combinator, the pivotal moment when Paul Graham recognized Replit's potential, and the early bet on integrating AI and machine learning into the core of Replit. Amjad dives into the evolving landscape of AI and machine learning, sharing how these technologies are reshaping software development. We explore the concept of coding agents and the impact of Replit's latest innovation, Replit Agent, on the software creation process. Additionally, Amjad reflects on his time at Codecademy and Facebook, where he worked on groundbreaking projects like React Native, and how those experiences shaped his entrepreneurial journey. We end with Amjad's view on techno-optimism and his belief in an energized Silicon Valley. Replit Website - https://replit.com X/Twitter - https://x.com/Replit Amjad Masad LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amjadmasad X/Twitter - https://x.com/amasad FIRSTMARK Website - https://firstmark.com X/Twitter - https://twitter.com/FirstMarkCap Matt Turck (Managing Director) LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/turck/ X/Twitter - https://twitter.com/mattturck (00:00) Intro (01:36) The origins of Replit (15:54) Amjad's decision to restart Replit (19:00) Joining Y Combinator (30:06) AI and ML at Replit (32:31) Explain Code (39:09) Replit Agent (52:10) Balancing usability for both developers and non-technical users (53:22) Sonnet 3.5 stack (58:43) The challenge of AI evaluation (01:00:02) ACI vs. HCI (01:05:02) Will AI replace software development? (01:10:15) If anyone can build an app with Replit, what's the next bottleneck? (01:14:31) The future of SaaS in an AI-driven world (01:18:37) Why Amjad embraces techno-optimism (01:20:36) Defining civilizationism (01:23:11) Amjad's perspective on government's role
Jason expressed his dissatisfaction with the tipping culture in Miami and emphasized the importance of rewarding good behavior and correcting bad behavior. He also discusses the challenges faced by home builders due to higher mortgage rates and the importance of patience in the real estate market. Lastly, he shared his concerns about the upcoming US presidential election and the potential impact of individual votes, as well as his recent talk in Tampa and upcoming appearance at Global Citizen Week in Miami. Then Jason makes a presentation at the Family Mastermind conference where he discusses the power of inflation as a wealth-building tool for property investors. He explains his concept of "inflation-induced debt destruction" and how it benefits those with fixed-rate mortgages. He introduces his Hartman Comparison Index (HCI) to analyze housing affordability relative to other commodities. He argues that despite high prices, homes are actually more affordable when priced in gold or oil. Jason predicts continued low housing inventory and increasing demand as interest rates potentially decrease. He touches on immigration's impact on housing demand and the national debt. Overall, Jason remains bullish on real estate investing, regardless of political outcomes, due to ongoing inflationary pressures. #RealEstateInvesting #Inflation #HousingMarket #LeadershipLessons #EconomicOutlook #AffordabilityIndex #InterestRates #PopulationGrowth #GovernmentPolicy #FinancialLiteracy #WealthBuilding #MarketAnalysis #InvestmentStrategy #EconomicTrends #HousingInventory #MortgageRates #FamilyMastermind Key Takeaways: Jason's editorial 1:34 The tipping culture and rewarding good behavior 4:22 Builders remain optimistic 8:07 The coming erection and Kamala's "Swipe of my pen" 10:53 The inner Circle town hall Jason Speaking at the Family Mastermind conference 13:58 Kudos to Family Mastermind's Matt Andrews 15:24 Inflation vs. Deflation 23:04 The HCI and the Housing affordability crisis 25:36 National payment-to-income ratio and housing availability 30:36 Buying power and sensitivity 32:51 Adding "workers without papers" 36:33 Join our Mastermind Yacht Adventures to the British Virgin Islands https://familymastermindadventures.com/ ___________________________________________ I'm speaking at Global Citizen Week and as one of the speakers, I'm also excited to offer my network a few VIP passes—which means your access will be complimentary (usually priced at $1,500). However, space is limited, so don't miss out! Reserve Your VIP Pass https://globalcitizenweek.com/miami/local/ Taking place from October 31 to November 1 at the beautiful Hotel AKA Brickell in Miami's financial district, this event is an incredible opportunity to: Expand Your Network: Connect with other forward-thinking entrepreneurs, investors, and business owners who are equally focused on enhancing their global footprint. Engage in Strategic Conversations: Explore the latest trends in diversifying investments, optimizing tax strategies, and building a Plan B for global mobility. Learn and Optimize: Participate in expert-led workshops and discussions to discover new ways to protect your wealth, maximize business potential, and enhance your lifestyle. Who should attend? Entrepreneurs & Business Owners: Learn how to streamline your corporate structure and tax strategy to unlock new growth opportunities. High-net-worth Individuals: Discover strategies for protecting and growing your wealth globally. Investors: Find out about emerging markets and investment opportunities that can drive your financial independence. Those Seeking Global Citizenship: Learn how global citizenship can improve your quality of life with better health care, education, and security. To secure your spot, just register here: Reserve Your VIP Pass https://globalcitizenweek.com/miami/local/ Follow Jason on TWITTER, INSTAGRAM & LINKEDIN Twitter.com/JasonHartmanROI Instagram.com/jasonhartman1/ Linkedin.com/in/jasonhartmaninvestor/ Call our Investment Counselors at: 1-800-HARTMAN (US) or visit: https://www.jasonhartman.com/ Free Class: Easily get up to $250,000 in funding for real estate, business or anything else: http://JasonHartman.com/Fund CYA Protect Your Assets, Save Taxes & Estate Planning: http://JasonHartman.com/Protect Get wholesale real estate deals for investment or build a great business – Free Course: https://www.jasonhartman.com/deals Special Offer from Ron LeGrand: https://JasonHartman.com/Ron Free Mini-Book on Pandemic Investing: https://www.PandemicInvesting.com
In this intro portion, Jason talks with real estate investor Robert Helms. They discuss the current state of the market, opportunities, and the importance of pricing real estate in other assets. Jason also introduces an institutional real estate investor who shares insights on their strategies and the benefits they bring to individual investors. Jason and Robert emphasizes the importance of long-term thinking and avoiding emotional decisions in real estate investing. The build-to-rent (BTR) trend is growing, with institutional players becoming more involved in the real estate market. Richard Ross, CEO of Quinn Residences, discusses the factors driving the demand for BTR homes, including a shortage of affordable housing, aging millennials, and the pandemic's impact on living preferences. He also highlights the increasing number of renters by choice and the potential for growth in the BTR sector. The chart shows that the BTR market share is still relatively small compared to traditional rental housing, but it's expected to grow significantly in the coming years due to various factors. #buildtorent #BTR #realestate #housing #rentalmarket #affordablehousing #millennials #pandemic #rentalhousing #singlefamilyhomes #apartment #investment #housingmarket #residentialrealestate #property #homeownership #renters #rent #rental #propertymanagement Key Takeaways: Jason's editorial 1:24 Eagles and RE Trends with Jason and Robert Helms 2:27 RE vs HCI 3:48 Richard Ross, institutional investors and macro trends Richard Ross interview 7:29 Bullish about SFH 11:14 Large Addressable Market 15:52 How much of the housing stock will be owned by institutional investor 17:45 Compelling sector Supply/Demand Dynamics 18:45 Doomers, shadow supply & demand 23:21 Migration trends & US single family permits by year ___________________________________________ I'm speaking at Global Citizen Week and as one of the speakers, I'm also excited to offer my network a few VIP passes—which means your access will be complimentary (usually priced at $1,500). However, space is limited, so don't miss out! Reserve Your VIP Pass https://globalcitizenweek.com/miami/local/ Taking place from October 31 to November 1 at the beautiful Hotel AKA Brickell in Miami's financial district, this event is an incredible opportunity to: Expand Your Network: Connect with other forward-thinking entrepreneurs, investors, and business owners who are equally focused on enhancing their global footprint. Engage in Strategic Conversations: Explore the latest trends in diversifying investments, optimizing tax strategies, and building a Plan B for global mobility. Learn and Optimize: Participate in expert-led workshops and discussions to discover new ways to protect your wealth, maximize business potential, and enhance your lifestyle. Who should attend? Entrepreneurs & Business Owners: Learn how to streamline your corporate structure and tax strategy to unlock new growth opportunities. High-net-worth Individuals: Discover strategies for protecting and growing your wealth globally. Investors: Find out about emerging markets and investment opportunities that can drive your financial independence. Those Seeking Global Citizenship: Learn how global citizenship can improve your quality of life with better health care, education, and security. To secure your spot, just register here: Reserve Your VIP Pass https://globalcitizenweek.com/miami/local/ #RealEstateInvestment #RentingVsBuying #FinancialAdvice #PersonalFinance #InvestmentStrategy #RealEstateTips #HomeOwnership #RentalProperties #FinancialPlanning #WealthCreation #JasonHartman #RealEstateExpert #Habits #Communication #SuperCommunicators #PowerOfHabit #PersonalDevelopment #Relationships #Conversation #EmotionalIntelligence #Listening #Empathy #SocialSkills #BehaviorChange #Psychology #Neuroscience #SelfImprovement Follow Jason on TWITTER, INSTAGRAM & LINKEDIN Twitter.com/JasonHartmanROI Instagram.com/jasonhartman1/ Linkedin.com/in/jasonhartmaninvestor/ Call our Investment Counselors at: 1-800-HARTMAN (US) or visit: https://www.jasonhartman.com/ Free Class: Easily get up to $250,000 in funding for real estate, business or anything else: http://JasonHartman.com/Fund CYA Protect Your Assets, Save Taxes & Estate Planning: http://JasonHartman.com/Protect Get wholesale real estate deals for investment or build a great business – Free Course: https://www.jasonhartman.com/deals Special Offer from Ron LeGrand: https://JasonHartman.com/Ron Free Mini-Book on Pandemic Investing: https://www.PandemicInvesting.com