Bill Barrow, Associated Press Updated 11:46 am PST, Tuesday, February 19, 2019 FILE - In this this Nov. 6, 2018, file photo, Tom Perez, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee speaks to a crowd of Democratic supporters in Washington. Officials in Houston, Miami and Milwaukee are in a mad scramble to lure the Democratic presidential nominating convention in 2020, but each city has something left to prove. less FILE - In this this Nov. 6, 2018, file photo, Tom Perez, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee speaks to a crowd of Democratic supporters in Washington. Officials in Houston, Miami and Milwaukee are in ... more Photo: Jacquelyn Martin, AP Photo: Jacquelyn Martin, AP Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Image 1 of 1 FILE - In this this Nov. 6, 2018, file photo, Tom … [Read more...] about Inside the battle to host the 2020 Democratic convention
Speech about education is the key to success
Net neutrality may be politically divisive, but will it get young voters to the polls?
High-school senior Evan Scully has one main issue he's focused on this political season: Bringing back net neutrality protections. The 17-year-old political activist from rural North Carolina has been working on social media campaigns to organize online protests, as well as getting people to contact their congressional representatives to voice concern over the Federal Communications Commission's repeal of the open internet rules.He joined a group of volunteers working with the grassroots group Fight for the Future, working the phones and sending emails and letters to key Republicans in the lead-up to the Senate's vote on the Congressional Review Act petition to nullify the FCC repeal. The group declared victory in the first battle of this fight when the measure narrowly passed the Senate, winning the votes of Republicans John Kennedy of Louisiana, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Susan Collins of Maine.Scully started his activism in 2016 after taking a civics class during his sophomore … [Read more...] about Net neutrality may be politically divisive, but will it get young voters to the polls?
The Long Boom: A History of the Future, 1980
We're facing 25 years of prosperity, freedom, and a better environment for the whole world. You got a problem with that? A bad meme - a contagious idea - began spreading through the United States in the 1980s: America is in decline, the world is going to hell, and our children's lives will be worse than our own. The particulars are now familiar: Good jobs are disappearing, working people are falling into poverty, the underclass is swelling, crime is out of control. The post-Cold War world is fragmenting, and conflicts are erupting all over the planet. The environment is imploding - with global warming and ozone depletion, we'll all either die of cancer or live in Waterworld. As for our kids, the collapsing educational system is producing either gun-toting gangsters or burger-flipping dopes who can't read. By the late 1990s, another meme began to gain ground. Borne of the surging stock market and an economy that won't die down, this one is more positive: America is finally getting its … [Read more...] about The Long Boom: A History of the Future, 1980
Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us
From the moment I became involved in the creation of new technologies, their ethical dimensions have concerned me, but it was only in the autumn of 1998 that I became anxiously aware of how great are the dangers facing us in the 21st century. I can date the onset of my unease to the day I met Ray Kurzweil, the deservedly famous inventor of the first reading machine for the blind and many other amazing things. Ray and I were both speakers at George Gilder's Telecosm conference, and I encountered him by chance in the bar of the hotel after both our sessions were over. I was sitting with John Searle, a Berkeley philosopher who studies consciousness. While we were talking, Ray approached and a conversation began, the subject of which haunts me to this day. I had missed Ray's talk and the subsequent panel that Ray and John had been on, and they now picked right up where they'd left off, with Ray saying that the rate of improvement of technology was going to accelerate and that we were going … [Read more...] about Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us
Speech Analytics: Many Use Cases & Players, A Few Important Tips
Speech analytics can go a long way toward driving improvements in contact center environments. But that’s not all. This technology can help businesses understand what needs to be improved in terms of agent behaviors, company processes, and product performance. Businesses can then use that information as they coach customer-facing workers, fine-tune how they do things, and upgrade their solutions. Speech analytics also can help organizations spot customer frustration. That can help them prevent customer churn buy getting a more experienced agent on the line, contacting the individual with a special offer or apology, or some other action. Creating new revenue is another potential benefit of speech analytics. When certain words or phrases are spoken, they can signal a customer is a ripe prospect for a specific offer. That can create new cross-sell and up-sell opportunities. And catering to customers with the right solutions at the right time both builds walletshare and customer … [Read more...] about Speech Analytics: Many Use Cases & Players, A Few Important Tips