Coffee with Casner

 

SMARTPHONE CRISIS

More battery in a hurry: You must leave in 15 minutes, and your phone battery hovers around 3%. Plug it in, switch it into Airplane mode, and give it as much time as possible. Shutting off extra processes means your phone can focus on charging.

PARENTS HURTING THEIR KIDS?

Get off the phone: All that screen time is changing the shape of your kid’s eyes. Myopia (the formal name for nearsightedness) can develop when the eyes don’t get enough natural light. The eyes grow longer, and objects in the distance appear blurry. The WHO says by 2050, half the population will be nearsighted. That’s up from 30% today. Screen breaks are key, folks.

CHEAPER AIRFARE

Google Flights: New alerts will tell you whether buying the tickets you’re searching for is a great idea. For flights around Christmas, prices are expected to be lowest 71 days before your departure date. That’s Oct. 14, so adjust as needed.

WHEN TO SOCIALLY POST

Facebook: Weekdays between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Wednesday posts should get the most eyeballs. Weekends and outside of regular business hours are the lowest engagement times.

LinkedIn: Weekdays during business hours, especially lunchtime between noon and 1 p.m. Bonus points for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

X (formerly Twitter): Weekdays during business hours (see a theme here?), with the best performance reported between noon and 3 p.m. Also, Wednesday and Friday are the most significant days.

Instagram: Plot twist! During weekdays during off-work hours. Go for lunchtime, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., or in the evening between 7 and 9 p.m. Like X, Wednesday and Friday are the highest-engagement days here, too.

WHAT IS IT?

AI should be followed closely and perhaps subject to ethical regulations over time, but seeking to delay its advancement strikes me as impractical, unnecessary, and counterproductive.

WHY IMPORTANT

AI is undoubtedly a giant next step in this ongoing process of change and disruption. It has known and unknown ramifications for the future of work and our society. For that reason, its development and application need to be monitored closely and perhaps regulated in the years ahead. However, the opportunities for improving business efficiencies and people's lives everywhere demand that we continue to develop and apply it for good.

READ MORE

WHAT IS IT?

leveraging the cloud, businesses can access a virtually limitless pool of resources to train AI models, analyze vast datasets, and extract actionable insights.

WHY IMPORTANT

Is it a modern ally, a potential adversary, or perhaps a nuanced combination? This intricate interplay of AI's capabilities can reshape the very foundation of the tech industry, with profound implications for choices related to procurement, supply chain management, risk assessment, cybersecurity, and other critical domains.

READ MORE

WHAT IS IT?

According to the International Federation of Robotics, the global stock of industrial robots grew from 1 million units in 2011 to 3.5 million in 2021. The factory of the future will be staffed by robots and the humans who work alongside them to ensure the factory operates at peak efficiency.

WHY IMPORTANT

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the demand for robotics engineers is expected to grow by 9% from 2020 to 2030, faster than the average growth rate for all occupations. This growth can be attributed to the ever-increasing use of robots in manufacturing, healthcare, and aerospace/defense industries. The average salary for a robotics engineer in the United States is about $100,000.

READ MORE

 

Use Microsoft Word?

All you need is a microphone and network connection to use dictation in Word. (It works with Word for Microsoft 365 on PC and Mac.)

• Sign into Microsoft 365 on a mic-enabled device.
• Open a new or existing document and go to Home > Dictate. Wait for the Dictate button to turn on and start listening. Speak clearly, and you’re all set.

Here are some helpful voice commands:

• Insert punctuation by saying them explicitly, like “John exclamation point” for “John!” To insert a word that’s also punctuation, such as “comma” or “period,” say “literal comma” or “literal period.”
• “New line” or “New paragraph” will start a new thought or section. Say “Go to” or “Go after” and a word to move the cursor before or after that word.
• To correct the last thing you said, say “Correct that.”
• “Select that” will select the last thing you said.
• Say “Caps” and a word to capitalize the first letter of that word.

WHAT IS IT?

Ways facial recognition technology is or soon could be widely used that may intrigue—or concern—members of the public.

WHY IMPORTANT

From retail and healthcare to banking and entertainment, various industries are harnessing the capabilities of facial recognition to streamline processes, enhance security and offer personalized experiences. Still, while some of these developments may be widely welcomed, the public should also be aware of possible downsides.

READ MORE

WHAT IS IT?

Large language models (LLMs), as significant AI tools, are poised to obliterate numerous obstacles, much like the discovery of fire did, and usher in a new era of equality and accessibility. AI will serve as a conduit for further inclusion and scale diversity by bridging the following gaps.

WHY IMPORTANT

As fire did centuries ago, catalyzing communication through smoke signals, sparking innovation and bringing us closer around communal bonfires, AI now holds the potential to redefine our social fabric. However, it's worth remembering that fire also became a symbol of power and instilled fear, a lesson we must bear in mind as we proceed with AI's deployment.

READ MORE

WHAT IS IT?

As the world returns to “normal,” what does the future of work look like from where we are today? Six founders working in relevant sectors share visions of what they expect for the future. They had many thoughts about working from home, returning to the office, and finding hybrid solutions between the two.

WHY IMPORTANT

Managers used to manage in-person have had to change how they evaluate employees and how they keep everyone engaged; it’s no longer possible to rely on vibes to measure employee happiness and success. You must change how you track productivity when your workforce is distributed.

READ MORE