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The power always comes back on. It did at Londons Heathrow Airport earlier this year after a fire at a substation disrupted some 1,400 flights at the global hub, upending the plans and lives of 200,000 passengers. It did again on the Iberian Peninsula in April after a power outage, whose cause is still undetermined, knocking out transit in Barcelona, Madrid, and Lisbon and grounding flights even as back-up generators kicked on. And it did in May after the air traffic control tower at Houston Hobby lost power for an hour and backup generators kicked on. Some might say the missed business meetings, the vacations disrupted, and the cargo delayed are unfortunate costs of doing business, collateral damage in a system that supports $4.1 trillion in world economic activity. Others might think the airport power outages are so rare or brief that the fixa power source not reliant on the existing electric gridis a cost-prohibitive solution. Critical role in global connectivity The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) surveyed 24 commercial airports in 2023 and found a total of 321 electrical power outagesi.e., an unplanned loss of power lasting five minutes or longerfrom 2015 through 2022. Eleven of the airports reported six or more outages over this eight-year period. The GAO study came after Atlantas Hartsfield-Jackson International Airportthe worlds busiesthad a power outage in 2017 and LAXthe worlds seventh busiesthad one in 2019. Because of the interconnected nature of commercial aviation, the effects of those outages rippled across the nation and world. Airports play a critical role in global connectivity, in local and regional economic growth, and in the event of disastersthe most likely place where aid and rebuilding supplies will first arrive. They are also where transplant organs, high-value, time-sensitive goods, and critical machinery/parts needed for hospitals and utility companies arrive. Reliably functioning airport infrastructure matters. Our lives and livelihoods depend on them. New energy solutions At Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT), we started to think about options after Atlantas outage and took decisive action after Los Angeles outage. Our goal was to ensure resiliency and redundancy so we could have power, no matter what. Four years ago, we commissioned a first-in-the-world airport microgrid that fully powers a major airport. Since then, we have achieved site-hardened infrastructure, lowered our cost of energy (in the millions, annually) and contributed to cleaner air by sourcing our energy very locally. PIT’s microgrid, powered by a 20 MW energy plant using on-site natural gas and a 3MW solar facility with nearly 10,000 panels built on top of a landfill, allows us to operate independently if outside disruptions occurand they have. A recent regional power loss that impacted commercial customers throughout the region had no effect on the airport. Our microgrid provided full power to our airport and airfield, without any disruption. Not every airport is blessed with huge supplies of natural gas on property, but by adopting innovative solutions to provide energy security, we can make our world a better place for everyonewhether they fly or not. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Airports must analyze the resources available that make the most sense for their circumstanceswhether its solar power, natural gas pipelines, or other creative options. The industry has faced threats and found solutions time and time again. As a result, air travel is safer and more secure. Now is the time for airports to lead with a vision that sees beyond runways and terminals and create plans for resilience and build a future that withstands the loss of power. Because wouldnt it be better and safer for us all if the power never went out? Christina Cassotis is CEO of Pittsburgh International Airport.
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E-Commerce
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has placed new restrictions on Congressional visits, a policy change that is likely to escalate tensions between the controversial federal law enforcement agency and its critics. ICE detailed the policy changes in a memo published to its website. Under the new rules, ICE asserts that lawmakers must give 72 hours of advance notice before visiting an ICE field office. Lawmakers are explicitly allowed by law to visit ICE facilities that detain or otherwise house aliens unannounced, but the agency wants to stop surprise visits to its broader constellation of immigration enforcement centers across the country, which it claims do not meet that criteria. The new guidance comes as Democrats clash with the Trump administration over its immigration crackdown, which has targeted refugees who were offered legal status during the Biden administration, mistakenly deported a Maryland resident to a mega-prison in El Salvador and expanded immigration raids at farms, hotels and restaurants. The policy also states that Congressional staffers must now provide 24 hours of notice before entering a detention facility. Visitors attempting to circumvent entry requirements may be subject to arrest or other legal action, the agency warns. Under its new visitation policy, the agency tries to draw a distinction between its detention facilities and field offices, the latter of which it claims arent used to detain people. ICE does not house aliens at field offices, rather these are working offices where Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) personnel process aliens to make custody determinations based on the specific circumstances of each case, the memo argues, adding that anyone brought to a field office who needs to be detained is transferred to a purpose-built facility. ICE operates 25 field offices across the country. According to the agencys field office directory, the Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), the ICE law enforcement arm that conducts deportations, manages all aspects of the immigration enforcement process through those offices. ICE clashes with elected officials are escalating In Trumps second term, ICE officers have not hesitated to handcuff, arrest and even press charges against elected officials. Earlier this week, New York City comptroller Brad Lander was arrested at a Manhattan immigration court while escorting a man sought by immigration agents. In a video of the incident, Lander is shown repeatedly asking a group of plainclothes agents if they have a judicial warrant before being wrestled against a wall and removed from the building. In another recent confrontation, California Senator Alex Padilla was forcibly removed from a press conference when he tried to interrupt Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem with a question. On Friday, Congressional Democrats sent a letter to Noem and the acting director of ICE accusing the agencies of continued obstruction of legal oversight visits by members of Congress. The lawmakers specifically named a Manhattan field office that normally serves as a brief stop for immigrants moving through the system but is now reportedly overcrowded and forcing people that are detained for multiple days to sleep on the floor. ICEs deputy field director in New York confirmed that multiple detainees slept on the floor or on benches in the facility, an admission the group of Democrats pointed to in their letter demanding access. The lawmakers also demanded that ICE rescind its new guidance claiming that its field offices are not subject to unannounced visits by members of Congress. Given the overaggressive and excessive force used to handcuff and detain elected officials in public, DHSs refusal to allow members of Congress to observe the conditions for immigrants behind closed doors begs the obvious question: what are you hiding? the group of lawmakers wrote.
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E-Commerce
Anshul Ramachandran knew theyd landed on something special when engineers started having opinions about color palettes. Probably one of my favorite moments was when we showed other people at the company the brand book for the first time and I heard the audible wows and ahs, the cofounder and head of product and strategy at Windsurf says. If you can get a bunch of engineers in a room to do that about colors and lines, you probably did something that works.Windsurf, formerly known as Codeium, is an AI-based development environment that was bought last month by Open AI for $3 billion30 times its valuation. Ramachandrans clients are mainly engineers, and so any redesign needed to speak directly to them. So Windsurf enlisted Vancouver design agency Metalab to create a visual identity that looks more like athletic gear than business software. The result breaks every rule about how tech companies are supposed to look. [Image: courtesy Metalab]Back to the humanWindsurf builds AI tools for more than a million software engineers, helping them accelerate their coding workflows through what the company calls seamless AI collaboration. But their previous brand identitya black background with teal accentsfelt limiting for a product that was expanding beyond basic code generation.The previous branding iteration. [Image: Windsurf]Theres sort of a very grayscale, kind of boring treatment to a lot of [technology] products, says Allison Butula, marketing director at Metalab. The standard tech aesthetic had become a liability for a company positioning itself at the intersection of human creativity and machine intelligence. When machines seem to be taking over our world, it makes sense that a brand should work to make technology feel more human.[Image: courtesy Metalab]The timing of the redesign aligned with broader changes at Windsurf. The company released the Windsurf Editor in November, which generated such momentum that users began identifying the company by its product name rather than its corporate name. The company officially renamed to Windsurf in April. It was a natural time as we were also changing the name of the company, Ramachandran says.[Image: courtesy Metalab]The big creative riskYash Mittal, lead designer at Windsurf who oversaw the project internally, tells me the team was deliberate about taking creative risks. At the end of this process, where do we want to be? And were like, we want to take this big risk. And even if it fails, were okay with that because we dont want to end up with a brand that looks just like any other tech brand, he says.[Image: courtesy Metalab]Metalab has helped to turn technical products into emotionally resonant brands in the past (including Slack). Jordan Darbishire, brand director at Metalab, anchored the visual identity in a core emotional concept. It was the idea of feeling this unlimited potential. So its all about flow state. Its all about doing your best work and the tool affording you time, which is obviously a very precious resource, she says.[Image: courtesy Metalab]The brand flows indeed. The flat white logomark is a stylized W that makes it look like waves in the ocean. Its smooth thickness variations give it a hand-drawn quality, but at the same time it is precise, recalling an engineers calligraphy on a blueprint. The variable width typographyhow the W letterform grows wider, then thinner, then wider again, creating visual rhythm that suggests energy and movementtransmits a flow state, Mittal says. The logomark also visually echoes the wordmark: The Ws curves literally repeat the delicate thin ligatures of the brands typeface, Tomato Grotesk, adding to the repetition and the flow Mittal speaks aout.[Image: courtesy Metalab]The design process required balancing seemingly contradictory elements, Darbishire says. We want to really meld the natural and the technical, she says. To achieve that, the team created wavelike gradients that guide the eye through compositions while incorporating blueprint elements that communicate technical sophistication, which are at the same time a big contrast to the flat nature of the Windsurf brand and, at the same time, extend its human nature.Early design concepts and inspiration [Image: courtesy Metalab]Surfing UX AIThese pretty gradients are a key part of the brand book. Metalab developed a comprehensive gradient system with dotted line language and dash patterns that Windsurfs designers could use to build new shapes and applications. The color palette drew inspiration from actual windsurfing sails. A lot of them utilize these bright neon colors so you can see them on the water. Its also sort of the design language of that sport, Darbishire says. It looks like it could be a windsurf, like a windsurfing athletic company. And we really want to lean into that because its just so unique.[Image: courtesy Metalab]It wasnt the most aggressively sporty option, however. The team explored directions that felt too fashion-forward, too technical, or too vibrant before finding the balance point. We arrived at the sweet spot where we were very creative and expressive, but also we communicated our product values extremely clearly, Mittal notes. The gradients and colors will be an element that permeates the entire UX.[Image: courtesy Metalab]Luke Des Cotes, CEO of Metalab, says his company has had a front row seat of these kinds of waves in technologythe big boom of crypto companies that all come forward. And now its been AI companies that have kind of come forward. Creating a unique brand is key during a gold rush, he adds. There is going to be like this real renaissance of value put towards brand as being a core differentiator, he says.While Windsurf launched its new logo in mid-April, testing market reception before the full brand rollout, the complete rebranding across the site and all materials happens today (a day before International Surf Day). The logo has been a success so far, Ramachandran says. Almost all of our customers, especially on the enterprise side, theyre like, okay, yeah, thats great. You see the W, I see the wave, I see the flow. It makes a lot of sense.
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E-Commerce
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