Author: Benstirk

[ad_1] I discovered I had aphantasia by accident. When you live your entire life without a “mind’s eye”, it seems completely normal to visualize nothing when remembering people and places, or imagining the future.Two years ago, I wrote an article about pupillometry, or the measurement of a person’s pupils to infer their cognitive state. Joel Pearson, a psychologist and neuroscientist at the University of New South Wales, was trying to use pupils as a biomarker to assess aphantasia, a condition thought to affect about 3.9% of people.A quick at-home test for aphantasia, I learned, was called the red star or…

[ad_1] This post is part of a series sponsored by AgentSync. Call centers don’t typically have the best reputation among customers in any industry. But, when executed well (or at least without long holds characterized by elevator music so loud it leaves you wondering if you’ve sustained permanent hearing loss), they can provide a valuable connection between a consumer and a business. In an industry as saturated as insurance, great customer service can be a key competitive advantage that directly impacts a business’s success and growth. But the heavily regulated space means that insurance call center success is just as…

[ad_1] As we reported back in January, Google TV was set to get an update to deliver much better wireless headphone support with easy switching and fast pairing. And now the promised update has arrived in the latest system update for Chromecast with Google TV (4K).The update, which brings Fast Pair to the Chromecast for compatible headphones (which includes loads of the best wireless headphones and best wireless earbuds, including from the likes of Sony) two years after it was initially announced, is rolling out now with the usual collection of bug fixes and performance improvements. Once installed, you should…

[ad_1] ‘The average woman with a pet now spends more time ‘actively engaged’ with her pet than she spends hanging out face-to-face with fellow humans on any given day,” I read in the Atlantic. It was a dissection of the “crisis in social fitness”, alternatively known as “why we’re all destined to die alone, our faces eaten by the very pet whose company we have chosen above our own kind”. Am I, a pet owner, or my pet-owning friends (of all genders) surprised? Of course not.Humans are great for certain things. Opening jars. Forensic textual analysis of single-word WhatsApps from…

[ad_1] This month’s news covers water, light and the need to make and mend. There are stories on everything from Amazon’s Smile to celebrating the menopause with ceramics. For more features and articles like this, sign up to our monthly Design Review newsletter.Max Hooper Schneider’s Exurbia paludarium, 2023. Photograph: Paul Salveson/Courtesy Maureen Paley, LondonHead to Sadie Coles’s London gallery this month and you’ll find a group show that shines a light on an interesting area of art. The creative possibilities of lamps and pendants have long fascinated artists, and the exhibition Shine On brings together sculptural lights made by artists…

[ad_1] This post is part of a series sponsored by AgentSync. We recently wrote in great detail about the different types of insurance fraud, including how to go about committing each type (just for informational purposes, of course!). Today, our focus is on the other side of the coin: what the insurance industry is doing to prevent and detect insurance fraud, particularly by using modern technology. A refresher on the cost of insurance fraud Insurance fraud isn’t a victimless crime. It costs everyone from individuals and families to large businesses hundreds of billions of dollars each year. According to the…

[ad_1] The reaction to last week’s major AT&T network outage in the US last week hasn’t died down yet, and we’re now getting some details about how affected customers are going to be compensated for the loss of service.Via a new AT&T support page, the company apologizes for the outage. “We recognize the frustration this outage has caused and know we let many of our customers down,” says AT&T. “We understand this may have impacted their ability to connect with family, friends, and others.”To “make it right” with customers, the company is proactively applying a credit to the accounts of…

[ad_1] This post is part of a series sponsored by CoreLogic. The property insurance industry’s first event of the year, CoreLogic’s second annual INTRConnect, was held in Austin, Texas, and brought together more than 1,200 passionate professionals from across the property insurance and restoration industry. The event was a hub of excitement, with underwriters, claims professionals, InsurTech providers, property restorers, and many others gathering to explore the latest advancements in the field. Expert speakers, educational sessions, eye-opening exhibitions, collaborative role-based breakout sessions, and unmissable networking opportunities were just a few of the highlights of this truly unforgettable event! We’ve distilled…

[ad_1] This post is part of a series sponsored by AgentSync. Yes, PBM is yet another in a long line of insurance acronyms, but where would we be without them? Using a lot more words to say the same thing, for sure! With prescription drug costs ever increasing (and an ever-increasing topic of conversation), it’s more important than ever to know the basics of one of the most significant players in the world of prescription drugs: pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs. What are PBMs? In the complex patchwork of the healthcare landscape, PBMs perform the function of third-party intermediaries that…

[ad_1] The nominations for this year’s Gayming Awards 2024 have been announced, and somewhat predictably, Baldur’s Gate 3 has managed five nominations across four categories. The Awards showcase, which will take place on April 7, 2024, at 2pm PT/ 5pm ET/ 10pm UK is a celebration of “queer geek culture,” according to the official website, and will be broadcast from a set in Los Angeles. The main live stream on Gayming Magazine’s Twitch and TikTok accounts will have a Spanish language co-stream on TikTok as well as a captioned stream on YouTube. So far, Baldur’s Gate 3 has received five nominations across…