“Sluggish” might be the best word to describe the IT job market after the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) published its data for February employment today.

The data offered mixed signals for US tech jobs: even though the number of tech roles grew, unemployment rose. And while tech companies cut staff, nearly 490,000 job postings were made.

The unemployment rate continued to climb for the IT marketplace, to 3.3% in February from 2.9% in January. It was the second month in a row the unemployment rate grew, according to ComTIA, a non-profit trade association. The numbers represent a dramatic increase in tech unemployment compared with December’s 2.0% rate.

Janco Associates, which uses different metrics than CompTIA to determine tech unemployment, pegged February’s unemployment rate at a much higher 5.4% — though that number is still down from 5.7% in January.

Janco said the number of unemployed IT professionals dropped slightly in February to 148,000 from 152,000 in January.

“There continues to be uncertainty in the outlook for IT initiatives,” said Janco CEO Victor Janulaitis. “A preliminary impact of DOGE is being felt, as many contracts for IT professionals have been put on hold and government IT pros do not have a clear picture of what the future holds for them.”

DOGE stands for the unofficial “Department of Government Efficiency” put into place by President Donald J. Trump; it is being overseen by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk.

According to BLS data, the IT job market shrank by 9,100 positions in early 2025, Janulaitis said. Economic uncertainty, including stock market fluctuations and concerns over inflation, tariffs, tax cuts, and global conflicts, is responsible for the hiring slowdown, he said.

Kye Mitchell, head of tech recruiting firm Experis North America, agreed that tech demand so far this year is down 6%. “It remains challenging for those looking for new jobs, even as employers face talent shortages,” he said. “However, there is optimism that AI can be used to effectively upskill and reskill existing employees as hiring continues to stall and people hold on to the jobs they have, given economic uncertainties.”   

Employer hiring for those with AI skills continues to trend upward, according to a CompTIA analysis of Lightcast job posting data. Active job listings referencing AI skills in some capacity was up 116% in February compared to the same period last year, while hiring for dedicated AI job roles increased 79% during the same time frame, according to CompTIA.

February’s IT unemployment rate remained well below the national unemployment rate of 4.1%. The overall number of unemployed Americans, 7.1 million, changed little from January, and the overall national unemployment rate has remained in a narrow range of 4.0 percent  to 4.2 percent since May 2024, according to the BLS data.

Typically, January and February see increases in employment and a drop in unemployment.

The jobs report shows a market trying to balance itself amid falling consumer confidence and ongoing economic uncertaintyr, according to Ger Doyle, US country manager for staffing firm ManpowerGroup. While the labor market remains resilient, job seekers face challenges, and signs of cooling indicate cautious employer behavior.

“This year, our real-time data shows that demand is down 6%,” Doyle said in a statement. “We’re also seeing month-over-month declines in areas tied to consumer confidence and goods production — particularly with retail managers, where demand has dropped 16% — and in wholesale and manufacturing, down 20%. These declines are noticeable and indicate that the pace of hiring has slowed.”

Employment by tech sector companies declined by a net 11,514 positions in February, with tech services and tech manufacturing accounting for most of the retreat. At the same time, tech employment across all industry sectors increased by an estimated 177,000 for February, according to CompTIA’s analysis.

“As expected, the report paints a mixed picture, as labor market data catches up to market developments,” said Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA. “Recent employer tech hiring and future hiring intent indicators remain steady, so [that offers] a degree of reassurance.”

The march toward skills-based hiring continued, as nearly one-half of all tech occupation job postings did not specify a four-year degree requirement for applicants, CompTIA said.

Some IT jobs had a far higher percentage of openings without four-year degree requirements. Those included: network support specialists (85%), tech support specialists (71%), computer programmers (57%), network systems administrators (54%) and web and UI/UX designers (53%).

According to BLS data, employment trended up in vertical markets such as healthcare, financial activities, transportation and warehousing, and social assistance. But US government employment declined, a result of President Donald J. Trump’s efforts to cull the federal workforce through firings and steps by DOGE to eliminate positions and even whole agencies.

Source:: Computer World

By Siôn Geschwindt Elon Musk’s allegiance to Trump is once again stirring up controversy — this time over Starlink. The satellite internet provider, owned by Musk’s firm SpaceX, has become embroiled in a hot debate among Italian politicians, as Rome weighs its strategic alliances amid mounting tensions between Europe and the US. Italy’s right-wing League party is pushing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government to choose Starlink to provide satellite communications for government officials, citing the superiority of its technology over French rival Eutelsat. Starlink has around 6,700 active satellites in orbit, while Eutelsat has just over 600. “In the Italian interest it would…This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

After nearly two years of intensive beta testing, Duckduckgo has launched the live version of the AI assistant previously known as Duck Assist. Similar to Google’s AI Overviews, the AI Assistant can provide quick answers to users’ questions, such as why Pluto is no longer classified as a planet.

If users want more information, they can ask follow-up questions via the built-in chatbot Duck.ai; users can choose between generative AI (genAI) models, including GPT-4o mini, o3-mini, Llama 3.3, Mistral Small 3 and Claude 3 Haiku.

Both the AI assistant and the chatbot are free to use, and don’t require an account, The Verge reports.

Source:: Computer World

By Siôn Geschwindt AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, or DeepSeek have radically disrupted the way we access and generate information. However, these systems are general — they are jacks of all trades but masters of none.  Increasingly, though, scientists are training AI to solve very specific problems and fast-track everything from creating new drugs to designing fusion reactors. One area where they’re gaining traction is enhanced material discovery. Their advances are creating a growing range of promising startups. PhaseTree is one of them. Spun-off from the Technical University of Denmark in 2021, PhaseTree has developed a platform that integrates computer simulations, lab automation,…This story continues at The Next Web

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By Deepti Pathak Have you ever seen the “SND” abbreviation in Snapchat and had no idea what it stands…
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Google on Thursday unveiled new security controls for Chrome Enterprise, allowing IT departments to help employees better distinguish between work and personal browsing profiles.

Employees using Google Workspace or Google Identity will see a new sign-in experience that shows what’s managed and shared with their organization when they create a separate work profile for bookmarks, history, and other data.

Chrome Enterprise Core businesses also have new policies and customizations, while Chrome Enterprise Premium provides advanced data protection and secure access, the company said.

The browser suite includes new secure sign-ins, user authentication, and identity management across Google services. Google Identity integrates with Google Workspace and other third-party applications, allowing businesses to streamline access management, bolster security, and make sure users have the correct permissions and access.

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IT teams also benefit from better profile reporting and data protection for unmanaged devices in BYOD environments, the company said, and can enable reporting for managed users across Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android. In one view, they can access key info such as browser version, OS, policies, extensions, and device management status, making it easier to monitor BYOD or contractor setups.

With Chrome Enterprise Premium, companies can apply data controls and access restrictions, such as blocking copy/paste or screenshots, when employees or contractors sign into a work profile. Those company policies can be enforced on all devices through Chrome.

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The browser suite upgrades are designed to enhance transparency for employees, allowing them to clearly recognize separate work and personal browsing, especially on personal devices, according to Julia Lomakina, product manager for Chrome Enterprise.

“With the browser playing a more critical role in daily work, it’s more important than ever for IT teams to make it clear to employees that they are logged into a corporate browsing experience that is managed and monitored by their company,” Lomakina wrote in a blog post.

In addition, Chrome Enterprise will now allow organizations to customize browser profiles with a company logo to help workers immediately see when they are using a managed browser profile.

Upcoming Chrome releases will also show employees they’re in a managed “Work” profile, even without custom logos, whenever policies are applied.

Source:: Computer World

By Siôn Geschwindt Interplanetary travel might be about to get a whole lot faster — and hotter.  UK startup Pulsar Fusion today unveiled “Sunbird,” a nuclear fusion-powered rocket concept that could halve the time it takes to travel across our solar system — and, maybe, beyond it.  Machine learning models show the rocket could potentially propel a spacecraft with a mass of about 1,000kg (2,200lb) to Pluto in four years — less than half the time it took NASA’s New Horizons mission, which was powered by regular ion thrusters. Earth to Mars? Four months. Earth to Saturn? Two years.   Rather than launch from…This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

Interest in LibreOffice, the open-source alternative to Microsoft Office, is on the rise, with weekly downloads of its software package close to 1 million a week. That’s the highest download number since 2023.

LibreOffice, which runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS, is a standalone desktop office productivity software that is free to use. Downloads have picked up since The Document Foundation, which manages its development, released version 25.2 last week. 

It has emerged as the most popular open-source suite, with alternative versions such as Apache’s OpenOffice losing steam. The last version of OpenOffice was released in 2023.

“We estimate around 200 million [LibreOffice] users, but it’s important to note that we respect users’ privacy and don’t track them, so we can’t say for sure,” said Mike Saunders, an open-source advocate and a deputy to the board of directors at The Document Foundation.

There is still noteworthy interest in LibreOffice as a standalone desktop alternative to paid office productivity suites, said Jason Wong, distinguished vice president and analyst at Gartner. “Usually these are clients seeking to keep their on-premises implementation, given that both Microsoft and Google have focused on their cloud offerings,” Wong said. 

Cost is a factor for evaluating software suites like LibreOffice, Wong said. “The downside is the additional specialized resources and new skills needed to maintain the [software],” he  said.

Downloads of LibreOffice have been steadily climbing with each new version, Saunders said. 

Though LibreOffice has traditionally been a favorite of home users, there’s growing interest in businesses and government, Saunders said. The northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein last year said it would move 30,000 PCs from Microsoft Office to LibreOffice.

“The majority of our users — 85% — are on Windows, followed by macOS and then Linux,” Saunders said. 

Many desktop Linux distributions pre-install LibreOffice, but it’s unclear how many users that represents.

LibreOffice users typically want a straightforward interface, Saunders said. “They don’t want subscriptions, and they don’t want AI being ‘helpful’ by poking its nose into their work — it reminds them of Clippy from the bad old days,” he said. 

There are genuine use cases for generative AI tools, but many users prefer to opt-in to it and choose when and where to enable it. “We have zero plans to put AI into LibreOffice. But we understand the value of some AI tools and are encouraging developers to create … extensions that use AI in a responsible way,” Saunders said. 

Although there are cloud-based versions of OpenOffice, The Document Foundation has focused on the desktop version, Saunders said.

Source:: Computer World

By Siôn Geschwindt Europe’s space launch industry reopened for business today when the Ariane 6 heavy rocket lifted off at 17:24 CET from a spaceport in French Guiana. Originally scheduled for December, the Ariane 6 mission was delayed first to February 26 and subsequently to March 3 due to issues in transporting the satellite to the launchpad. However, just minutes before Monday’s launch, engineers identified an “anomaly” in one of the refuelling pipes, postponing the launch further. Finally, Ariane 6 had its first successful commercial launch today. The milestone came seven months after the rocket’s maiden flight, which restored sovereign access to space for Europe. …This story continues at The Next WebOr just read more coverage about: SpaceX

Source:: The Next Web

By Deepti Pathak Learning new slang terms and abbreviations is essential to communicate successfully in the constantly changing world of social…
The post TMB Meaning in Texting Explained: Use Cases & Examples appeared first on Fossbytes.

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By Thomas Macaulay In the run-up to every International Women’s Day (IWD), new data is released on gender inequity in tech. Frequently, the findings are disheartening. This week, one report estimated that female founders in Europe secured just 12% of last year’s total VC funding. Another calculated that overlooking women-led deep tech firms over the past decade cost the economy €198.8bn. Yet there are also reasons for optimism. One is that the investment landscape is showing signs of progress. According to the Female Innovation Index, last year saw a 7% increase in round size and a 15% rise in M&A activity for tech firms…This story continues at The Next Web

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By Hisan Kidwai Volleyball Legends, previously called Haikyuu Legends, is a super popular volleyball game inspired by beloved anime…
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Microsoft is planning a string of new AI agents to automate mundane tasks and improve worker productivity.

The company on Wednesday announced two AI-based sales agents that can autonomously follow up on sales leads. The company is also focusing on using agents to automate workflows across other sectors.

The sales agents, which are available in Microsoft 365 Copilot, connect to data in Microsoft 365 and Salesforce and Dynamics CRM systems to automatically generate and communicate with sales leads.

Salespeople spend hours verifying leads, writing to customers and then waiting for responses, said Bryan Goode, corporate vice president for business applications and platforms at Microsoft. “If you can take something that used to take hours and do it in minutes, you can spend more time selling,” he said.

One agent, called “sales chat,” can automatically create documents by drawing data from CRM systems, pitch decks, meetings or emails. The second agent, called “sales agent,” is an autonomous agent that works continuously converting contacts a company might have into leads and opportunities.

The sales agents are “finished agents” built on Microsoft capabilities and a variety of large language models (LLMs) that customers can start using right away. The LLMs used depend on customer needs, Goode said.

There is a provision for humans to review emails and documents going out, Goode said.

Microsoft’s Copilot Studio also allows customers to build, customize, and manage the fleet of agents.

The company sees opportunities for agentic AI in the finance, supply chain and other customer service areas, Goode said. “Those are the three functional areas in particular where we’re pretty, pretty heavily focused,” he said.

He cited, as an example, customers trying to navigate through complicated supply chains to reduce inventory and lower costs.

Microsoft also announced an AI Accelerator for Sales program, in which it will help customers migrate from old CRM systems to “AI oriented selling,” Goode said.

AI agents are creating an inflection point for traditional CRM systems, which could go the way of a mainframe, Goode said. “It’s going to be something that might be around, but probably has some dust on it,” he said.

The Microsoft announcement comes amid a flurry of agentic AI announcements this week. Amazon formed an agentic AI business group, according to Reuters.  And Salesforce at its TDX tradeshow announced AgentForce 2dx, which has new tools to allow AI agents to do better reasoning. 

AI agents can help worker productivity, but customers should approach them with caution, said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT. As with early days of LLMs, AI agents are still in their infancy and face many challenges, he said.

“If the data collection is done legitimately and done with the idea of delivering truly valuable results, it’s great. But there are many examples of AI tools that are not reliable,” King said.

King pointed to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which in its early days hallucinated and generated inconsistent results. Agents are expected to mature and generate more reliable results, but human intervention and guardrails against hallucination will be needed, King said.

Companies today use large LLMs for general-purpose querying, but personalized agents tailored for business processes are the future, King said.

Source:: Computer World

In his address to Congress last night, President Donald J. Trump called the CHIPS Act “horrible,” and said whatever money hasn’t been spent should now be used to reduce the national debt.

The CHIPS Act, enacted into law in 2022 under then-President Joseph R. Biden Jr., is aimed at increasing semiconductor manufacturing and development in the US.

“Your CHIPS Act is a horrible, horrible thing,” Trump told Congress during his address. “We give hundreds of billions of dollars, and it doesn’t mean a thing. They take our money and they don’t spend it. All that meant to them — we giving them no money — all that was important to them was that they didn’t want to pay the tariffs, so they came and are building, and many other companies are coming.”

Trump said tariffs are a more effective method of convincing semiconductor manufacturers and developers to relocate or build new facilities in the US. He has announced the imposition of tariffs against Canada, Mexico and most importantly for the tech industry, against China.

“We don’t have to give them money; we just want to protect our businesses and our people, and they will come because they won’t have to pay tariffs if they build in America,” Trump said. “You should get rid of the CHIP Act [cq] and whatever’s left over, Mr. Speaker, you should use it to reduce debt. Or any other reason you want to.”

Late last month, reports emerged that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) planned to cut 497 jobs as part of Trump’s federal government downsizing efforts. NIST, a non-regulatory agency within the US Department of Commerce (DoC), helps drive innovation and industrial competitiveness and oversees the CHIPS for America program. The personnel cuts were widely criticized as damaging to the rollout of the CHIPS Act.

Robert Maire, president of consulting firm Semiconductor Advisors, wrote in a blog post that the plan to cut NIST staff isn’t “bluff or negotiation tactic.” Instead, the layoffs signal a complete shift in direction under Trump, he said.

“Trump made it clear over the last few days that he will institute 25% tariffs on imported semiconductor devices, so [it’s] obvious that strategy is shifting from incentivizing US chip production to penalizing imports instead,” Maire said. “This also lowers the likelihood of TSMC taking over Intel manufacturing, as giving top US chip production to Taiwan contradicts the new strategy.”

The goal of the CHIPS Act is to reduce reliance on foreign semiconductor supply chains, improve national security, and support innovation in critical technologies such as electronics, defense, and healthcare. It also aims to create jobs and strengthen the U.S. economy.

The Department of Commerce has been divvying up $52 billion in the hopes of spurring on-shore chip manufacturing. While about $32 billion of CHIPS Act money has been allocated, the funds have not yet been technically dispersed.

Among recipients of CHIPS Act funding are Intel, Samsung, Micron, TSMC, and Texas Instruments; all of those companies have unveiled plans for a number of new US chip fabrication plants. In return, those chip designers and makers have pledged about $300 billion in current and future projects in the US, according to the White House.

“CHIPS Act and tax incentives are important in [semiconductor] manufacturers’ decision to build fabs in the US versus elsewhere,” said David Tsui, technology managing director for S&P Global Ratings. “There are milestones that these semi manufacturers need to hit before they can receive grants distribution from the CHIPS office. The grants are important because the cost to built a fab and manufacture wafers in the US is much more expensive than in Asia.

“Details on how tariffs can attract semi manufacturers to build fabs in the US are still unclear,” Tsui said. “Currently tariffs are on imports. However, chips and other tech components are assembled into final products before imported into the U.S.“

TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker and a key supplier to US manufacturers, met Trump at the White House on Monday and announced a $100 billion investment to build five new chip facilities in the US. TSMC Chairman and CEO Dr. C.C. Wei praised Trump after the meeting.

“Back in 2020, thanks to President Trump’s vision and support, we embarked on our journey of establishing advanced chip manufacturing in the United States. This vision is now a reality,” Wei said in a statement.

Following the White House meeting, Trump said: “We must be able to build the chips and semiconductors that we need right here. It’s a matter of national security for us.”

TSMC’s $100 billion investment aims to reduce US reliance on Asian-made semiconductors. This follows last April’s announced plans to expand its US investment by $25 billion and add a third Arizona factory by 2030. While no timeline was provided, the effort would create 40,000 construction jobs in four years, the company said. Delays at its first Arizona plant pushed chip production to 2024 at higher costs than in Taiwan.

In addition to its latest manufacturing site in Phoenix, TSMC operates a fabrication plan in Camas, WA, and design service centers in Austin and San Jose. The company declined to comment on Trump’s latest remarks. Intel and Micron did not respond to a request for comment either.

“Higher costs are definitely a concern for TSMC,” said Andrew Tsai, chairman of Taiwan consulting firm Capital Investment Management Corp.

Jack Gold, principal analyst with tech industry research firm J. Gold Associates, called Trump’s comments “a wrong view of the CHIPS Act.”

“I think to repeal the CHIPS Act, or even let it just fade away due to restricting the NIST employees as seems to be happening now, is a big mistake,” Gold said. “Other countries, especially China, incentivize their manufacturers and we see how fast their tech is moving. Do we really want to penalize our own industries at a time of massive competition?”

Tariffs, Gold said, don’t work long-term because they become permanent without boosting manufacturing. Incentives are more effective for encouraging companies to invest in US capacity, he said.

“Without this approach, we wouldn’t have had the space program, which led to advances like chips, healthcare, and satellites,” he said. “If allocated funds aren’t fully disbursed, many projects may be canceled, which could be disastrous. We’re already seeing issues due to uncertainty around NIST disbursements.”

Source:: Computer World

By Deepti Pathak It’s convenient to shop on Amazon, but sometimes, you’d rather share your cart with another person…
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By Thomas Macaulay As Elon Musk was saluting Donald Trump in the US Congress yesterday, the South African’s divisive politics were opening new doors to his business rivals in Europe. Musk’s role in the White House had already been linked to Tesla sales and stock tanking. Now, the repercussions appear to have spread to SpaceX. The fallout centres on the company’s Starlink satellite internet service. The network has provided a vital communications system to Ukraine’s military since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022. But concerns are now growing that the service could soon be disrupted. According to Reuters, US officials recently raised the…This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

By Deepti Pathak Understanding the latest slang terms and abbreviations is essential to communicating effectively in the constantly evolving social media and messaging world. Now and then, you come across slang on the web or messages that make you scratch your…
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Opera has announced that its browser is now equipped with Browser Operator, a built-in AI agent that can help users with a variety of tasks. For example, if an Opera user wants help buying a large pack of socks in a certain color or booking a flight, the user can ask Browser Operator can do it.

The video below shows how it works:

Browser Operator is currently classified as a preview version, indicating there might still be some bugs to work out.

In addition to Browser Operator, Opera also plans to invest in additional AI features in the near future.

Source:: Computer World

Microsoft has begun pushing out a new version of its generative AI (genAI) Copilot application to users testing new builds of Windows 11. The app has an updated interface with a panel on the right listing the history of queries that have been posed, and the responses on the left. 

Microsoft has designed the app along the lines of the user interfaces (UIs) available in OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and Google’s Gemini. (The current version of Copilot for Windows in the Microsoft Store has a plain interface with no history panel. Once a user poses a new query, the old conversation disappears.)

Copilot is now a native Windows app with the implementation of XAML (Extensible Application Markup Language), a Microsoft-developed language that encodes the UI separate from the application code. 

the The new version isn’t available to everyone. It is still in preview and is being rolled out to testers of Windows 11 through the Windows Insider program. 

“We are excited to be previewing improvements with our Insiders to ensure all our customers have a great Copilot experience for Windows,” Microsoft said in a blog post.

Microsoft is constantly rolling out Copilot updates across its Windows ecosystem and Microsoft 365. The company this week announced that it added updates to its Copilot Studio software and is now previewing Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, which “enables your agents to take advantage of the full functionalities of Copilot Studio within Copilot Chat,” the company said in a blog post.

The chat feature provides agents access to data sources across Azure services and can coordinate or handoff queries to other agents. It also allows the creation of agents based on specific actions or triggers.

Another feature allows users to “monitor their custom agents’ trends and performance with analytics,” Microsoft said. 

Last month, the company added a feature called “intelligent meeting recap” to Teams that summarizes meeting notes by speaker and topic and generates round-ups and summaries.

The company also recently released a Copilot app for Macs. The AI assistant can summarize, generate images, provide recommendations and create content. The app works only on Macs with an M-series chip and macOS 14.0 or later.

Source:: Computer World