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AI ruins productivity, and Microsoft ruins bank accounts
Is AI actually making work productive? No. No it isn’t. And is AI actually making anyone productive? Only if your job is Harry Potter fan fiction.
It’s November 26th and you know what that means… the MP3 was patented on this day in 1996! United States Patent 5,579,430 was granted to the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany and it quickly paved the way for people to stream music. Within 20 years, the technology pretty much dismantled the music industry as we know it! Thanks Fraunhofer!
In any case, here’s this week’s news, jobs, and moves you can use:
Turns out: Nobody thinks AI is productive
AI. Maybe you’ve heard of it. It’s become the most divisive thing at the workplace since microwaved fish, with many companies including AI in their products in what looks like an en-masse approach to appeasing the C-suite.
Yes: there’s no denying that AI looks very cool and shiny on paper. It’s new, can do some impressive things that used to take a team of people, and nobody is 100% sure how it works: sort of like Chappell Roan. But when brands start shoehorning AI into everything from necklaces to pet bowls, it starts to look like it’s a cash grab. And existing employed humans—of which you are one—are starting a backlash.
It seems that where AI has been most effective has been in sales; people love selling it, but workers don’t seem to love it. At all. (Insert gif of Danny DeVito shaking his head). Nope.
In a recent survey by The Register:
69% of those surveyed said “doubt AI's ability to boost their work performance”
62% “lack faith in AI's capacity to reduce their workload”
34% were worried about being replaced by a bot
30% feel AI will increase competition for jobs and harm salaries
AI is still in what we at EE call the OWP, or “Owen Wilson Phase”, in that there’s a lot of “wow” but not a lot of production (sorry for the jab, Owen). According to consultant demigods Gartner and Appen, many companies are investing in the emerging tech and attempting to adopt it, but their ROI is down across the board.
Interestingly, Adobe did a survey in September and found 80% of those surveyed would use AI. But… Adobe has their own AI product to shill.
And, hey, look (EE takes a nearby chair, turns it around, and sits on it backwards like a super cool youth pastor). We love shilling. There’s nothing wrong with that. But why are people shilling a technology with no proven positive results? It feels a little like AI is getting into the “It has electrolytes!” zone of usage; wherein consumers themselves are saying “why do I want this?” and companies are saying “It has AI!”.
AI is an incredible force, and we’re just beginning to understand what it can do. We just wish marketers weren’t shoving it down our throats at every turn.
Microsoft Builds $349 Cloud PC For Fancy People
The Microsoft Windows 365 Link is a curious new device: it is a working PC about the size of two decks of cards, designed to only stream Windows from (motions towards the clouds with a shaman-esque walking stick) somewhere beyond the stars.
It is also little black box with “a USB-C 3.2 port, two more USB-A ports, a full-size DisplayPort, a full-size HDMI port, an Ethernet port, and a power jack”, according to our homies at Ars Technica. It also—ostensibly—costs $31 a month to actually use, because that’s how much Windows 365 monthly subscription is. It also can connect to not one but two 4K displays at the same time and supports Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3. TLDR; it’s pretty badass, not gonna lie, no notes on the specs.
But… who is it for? It would appear that Microsoft isn’t quite sure themselves, if you read the press release and accompanying FAQ promoting the launch of the 365 Link. It’s somewhere between “traveling engineer” and “fancy boi”; though the last Q in the FAQ alludes to more Windows-streaming Cloud PCs being released in the nearish future.
We understand and dare we say appreciate the absolute nerd flex that will be walking into a conference room, plonking down a little black box, cracking your knuckles, and then operating a PC from (that song from ‘An American Tale’ starts playing) somewhere out there.
Microsoft Takes Out Full-Page Ads on All Windows 10 PCs To Advertise Windows 11 PCs
Imagine this: you’re sitting there using your Windows 10 computer. First off: cool! Secondly: great purchase. Then, all of a sudden, a giant full-screen prompt pops up. It’s for Windows 11, and its asking you to upgrade.
Not to the new operating system, but an entirely new PC. What the ad doesn’t tell you is that after October 14th, 2025, you won’t be able to securely use your Windows 10 PC anymore unless you pony up $30 for a year for security upgrades; it doesn’t specify how long this $30-a-year thing will actually go on for, meaning that after mid-October 2026 we could be in for huge PC reckoning.
To break it down: Windows 8 and Windows 10 only require a 1GHz processor, 1GB of RAM (2GB for 64-bit), and 16GB of storage (20GB for 64-bit). Windows 11 will require Intel 8th Gen Coffee Lake or Zen 2 CPUs and up, TPM 2.0 (Trusted Platform Module) support, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage, according to The Verge.
That’s quite a spec jump. And while in the past Microsoft has been better about the ramp-up, it’s pretty clear they’re playing hardball this time around by—just repeating this in plain English for posterity’s sake—taking out full page ads on people’s computers asking them to get entirely new computers. That’s wild.
👨💻 Job Opportunities
Healthcare administrative support is a (Paris Hilton voice) hot job (sorry) field right now, and this is a sweet gig. All remote, 5 years of SQL and data warehouse experience needed, and some sort of cybersecurity background is a plus.
Do you have Top Secret clearance from the Department of Defense? If you didn’t say anything to that, you passed the first test. PioneerTech is looking for someone familiar with technical writing, editing, and knowledge management on IT projects for the DoD.
If you have 10-15 years experience in the OSS IT platform industry (who doesn’t?), then this is the job for you. They also ask for “experience in Public Speaking at tech events” and “presenting … at a high-level to individual customer prospects.” Time to get over that stage fright and get that bread.
🛩 Industry Moves
Comcast Eats Cable Channels to Save Itself
Comcast is shedding some “toxic” channels, mostly from the NBCUniversal catalog, ahead of the incoming Trump administration so that it can attempt a merge later on and escape whatever fresh hell awaits them in a regulatory hearing. Say farewell to MSBNC and CNBC, say hello to Comcast planning to split off its entertainment and news networks into a separate public company.
Sony Moves to Acquire Anime Powerhouse Kadokawa
Do you love anime and Elden Ring? We thought there might be a few of you reading this. Sony is in talks to buy your beloved the Japanese media conglomerate Kadokawa, sending Kadowa shares soaring 23% after the news broke. Sony already has a 2% stake in FromSoftware, which makes Elden Ring, and are looking to expand their anime business even further.
💽 Data Upload
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