The Off Topic Topic

[Norgy]

November is off-season, and I was ripped off at Santorini even then, but when the Greeks were wearing jackets and jeans, I could wear shorts and a t-shirt in November which would be suicidal in Norway. Just remember the days are quite short then, so at 6 pm it's Simon and Garfunkel time. "Hello, darkness my old friend".

[Maladict]

I want to go see the historic bits of Greece someday.
Though I definitely want to do it in November. The heat is horrific.

You get used to it after a week or two.

[Norgy]

Three weeks, and you say "kalimera" and "kalispera" correctly and "efaristo" to thank people.

[Tamas]

Have I reached my anti-innovation old man age yet? This sounds a bit dystopian to me, just got an email from Google:

Find My Device network is coming soon

You can use Find My Device today to locate devices when they're connected to the internet. With the new Find My Device network, you'll be able to locate your devices even if they're offline. You can also find any compatible Fast Pair accessories when they're disconnected from your device. This includes compatible earbuds and headphones, and trackers that you can attach to your wallet, keys, or bike.
To help you find your items when they're offline, Find My Device will use the network of over a billion devices in the Android community and store your devices' recent locations.
How it works
Devices in the network use Bluetooth to scan for nearby items. If other devices detect your items, they'll securely send the locations where the items were detected to Find My Device. Your Android devices will do the same to help others find their offline items when detected nearby.

Your devices' locations will be encrypted using the PIN, pattern, or password for your Android devices. They can only be seen by you and those you share your devices with in Find My Device. They will not be visible to Google or used for other purposes.
You'll get a notification on your Android devices when this feature is turned on in 3 days. Until then, you can opt out of the network through Find My Device on the web.

[Zanza]

Yeah, the advantages of that seem to be outweighed by the privacy reduction and risk of misuse.

My iPhone regularly warns me that the Air pods of my partner are stalking me.

Not the exact same thing of course as it would not necessitate central storage of location data,but still.

[Josquius]

I'm not sure I'm understanding. Isn't find my device pretty old and useful?
I never understood those people who share this with others though. I've seen some people always know their friends (phones) locations. Which....

[garbon]

I'm not sure I'm understanding. Isn't find my device pretty old and useful?
I never understood those people who share this with others though. I've seen some people always know their friends (phones) locations. Which....

The new version will apparently track your device even when turned off...and looks to be doing so by other devices that have pinged against yours. It doesn't currently do that.

[Grey Fox]

Google is finally coming out with their version of what Apple has been doing for close to a decade.

[Syt]

From an interview with the CEO of Siemens Austria:

[...]

Neumann : We need agile, adaptable and resilient people and teams right now. Am I overwhelming them with too much change, or are they taking it positively and seeing it as an opportunity? It helps if employees have a broader range of expertise and can work well in a team and across disciplines.

STANDARD : How do you make employees more resilient?

Neumann : Health plays a crucial role. At Siemens, we have had a number of campaigns on drugs, alcohol consumption, adequate sleep and physical exercise. We also offer coaching for mental health or in challenging situations.

STANDARD : Doesn't the issue of personnel actually play a rather minor role at CEO level?

Neumann : I see it quite differently. Cross-departmental personnel development is one of our key areas of focus. The aim is to increase career prospects for employees both in-house and internationally.

STANDARD : Speaking of employees: Finding IT specialists in particular is not easy at the moment. How is your search going?

Neumann : That's true, these skilled workers are in high demand. On the one hand, we rely on our own people who are interested in further training. On the other hand, we try to position ourselves as attractive employers on the market.

STANDARD : Does that mean you are offering particularly high salaries?

Neumann : I don't believe in exorbitant salaries for IT specialists. We pay fairly. It is much more important to offer specialists an exciting and highly dynamic working environment. For example, we work with many universities and colleges in research and development. In recent years, we have hired significantly more of these specialists.

STANDARD : As Vice President of the Federation of Austrian Industries (IV), you presented the advantages of AI in a press conference.

Neumann : Yes, there is still a lot of growth potential here. The widespread use of AI technologies can increase Austria's economic output by around a fifth. Repetitive tasks in particular can already be taken over by programs. This could free up almost a third of the working hours.

TANDARD : So will we have to work less in the future?

Neumann : At the moment, I believe we need more work overall to maintain the economy, the industrial location and competitiveness in Austria and Europe. AI gives us this valuable time.

STANDARD : So is the solution a 41-hour week, as the IV put forward for discussion this year?

Neumann : Generalization and standardization is difficult in this case because the individual industries, jobs and life situations of people are very different.

[...]

It's quite predictable at this point.
"We need to be an attractive employer." - "So you offer more money?" - "Nah."
"Do you think that if productivity goes up, working hours might go down?" - "Actually, we will need to work more."

[Admiral Yi]

That's not what they said.

[Grey Fox]

No, it is.

[Norgy]

"Cross-departmental personnel development is one of our key areas of focus."

Can you be a little more generic, please? 

[crazy canuck]

"The aim is to increase career prospects for employees both in-house and internationally."

Three questions later (best read with a French accent)

"The widespread use of AI technologies can increase Austria's economic output by around a fifth. Repetitive tasks in particular can already be taken over by programs. This could free up almost a third of the working hours."

No follow up questions so I guess we won't know what the CEO has in mind for increasing career prospects for the existing and new employees while reducing labour requirements by "almost a third".

[Josquius]

Pretty par the course really for labour saving developments way back through history.
They promise to free up people to spend their time doing more interesting things... But of course the employers would rather just not have those people on their payroll.

What worries me with AI is less AI doing my job better than me, and more it's sales people convincing enough idiots in senior positions that it's at least good enough.
As afterall, sales is their specialism, it's something I hate and have no interest in, they're always going to be better at that than me.

[crazy canuck]

There is a good piece in the NYTimes today about the problem developers of AI are having training AI - are more content on the internet is created by AI, there is a feedback loop in which AI gets less and less reliable.

But as you say Jos, the real risk is that people believe that AI is more reliable than it is.