Here’s another counter-intuitive gem: companies expect to hire more employees as they add automation. This from staffing agency ManpowerGroup. There’s some statistical sleight-of-hand here: companies that automate are growing but may add fewer jobs than are lost by the competitors they displace. Manpower finds that administrative and accounting jobs are most at risk. Unpaid interns seem to be safe.
There’s some chatter in the gurusphere that voice devices will replace smart phones as the primary personal electronic device. Color me skeptical but we do have this item that self-service customer care vendor Zappix has made its interactive voice response tools available on Amazon Alexa. It makes sense: Alexa already hears you curse when something doesn’t work, so she might as well offer to help.
What can Facebook and friends do to regain public trust? Banning services that sell fake followers is a good start, as Facebook-owned Instagram did not long ago. But selling ads to companies that violate the ban is an even better way to make things worse. Sure enough, TechCrunch found that’s exactly what’s been happening. Raise your hand if you’re surprised. I thought so.
The U.S. Senate has passed a bill that could potentially ban TikTok in the U.S. if its Chinese owner, ByteDance, does not sell its holdings within a year. The bill now goes to the President Biden, who has said he will sign it. Court challenges are likely to follow.