You can do a lot more with generative AI (genAI) in Google Sheets than get help writing spreadsheet formulas. Thanks to extensions such as Claude for Sheets, you can also do things like:

Determine whether text sentiment is positive, negative, or neutral

Classify text into categories

Extract email addresses, phone numbers, and other entities from plain text

And you can do this without having to write computer code in a language like Python.

Instead, you only need spreadsheet formulas as simple as:

=claudeExtract(“sentiment of positive, negative, or neutral”, A2)

Let’s see how to implement some of these use cases with the help of Claude for Sheets, an add-on for Google Sheets offered by Anthropic, maker of the Claude family of large language models (LLMs).

Just remember:

LLMs aren’t always accurate. The more important your task, the more effort you should put into checking Claude’s results.

Think twice about sending sensitive data to an LLM. If it’s corporate data, follow company policies.

Claude for Sheets costs money to use. It’s a pretty trivial amount for moderate amounts of text, but understand the pricing if you’ve got a massive data set. (Although for a lot of data, performance will be slow and you’re probably better off with another solution.) More on pricing in a bit.

Claude for Sheets setup

You’ll need two things in addition to a Google account in order to run Claude for Sheets: an Anthropic API key and the Claude for Sheets extension.

You can get an Anthropic API key by creating a free account. Once you log in, your dashboard home page should show an option to create API keys.

You can request an API key from the Anthropic dashboard home page.
Sharon Machlis / IDG

Click the button to create a key and heed the warning to copy your API key (just a string of characters) when it appears — once you close that dialog box, you won’t be able to access it again on the Anthropic website. Store the key securely, just as you would a password.

You’ll likely need to add some money to your Anthropic account before you can use the Claude API. You shouldn’t need much unless you’re uploading a lot of data. (I added $20 months ago and still have more than half left — and I’ve coded public-facing apps using Claude in addition to playing with Sheets.)

To add Claude for Sheets to your Google account, download it from the Google Workspace Marketplace and install it.

You need to set up Claude for Sheets in each spreadsheet where you want to use it. Create a new Google spreadsheet and go to Extensions > Claude for Sheets > Open Sidebar. Then click on the sidebar’s hamburger menu (three horizonal lines), choose Settings, and click on API provider. You want to choose Anthropic. Enter your API key where it says the key is missing.

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Sharon Machlis / IDG

Next, scroll down and choose a default model. Anthropic offers several different models under the Claude umbrella, and their capabilities and pricing vary considerably.

Haiku is the smallest, fastest, least expensive, and least capable model offered in Claude for Sheets. I’d start there while experimenting.

srcset=”https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/claude_for_google_sheets_03_choose_model.jpg?quality=50&strip=all 729w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/claude_for_google_sheets_03_choose_model.jpg?resize=253%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 253w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/claude_for_google_sheets_03_choose_model.jpg?resize=587%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 587w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/claude_for_google_sheets_03_choose_model.jpg?resize=142%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 142w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/claude_for_google_sheets_03_choose_model.jpg?resize=71%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 71w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/claude_for_google_sheets_03_choose_model.jpg?resize=405%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 405w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/claude_for_google_sheets_03_choose_model.jpg?resize=303%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 303w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/claude_for_google_sheets_03_choose_model.jpg?resize=211%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 211w” width=”729″ height=”865″ sizes=”(max-width: 729px) 100vw, 729px”>Choose a default model to use in Claude for Sheets. Haiku is the smallest and least expensive.
Sharon Machlis / IDG

As of this writing, Haiku costs 80 cents per million tokens in and $4 per million tokens out. One million tokens is roughly 4 million characters or 750,000 English words. The priciest and most powerful model, Opus, is $15 per million input and $75 per million output. The middle model, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, is $3/M in and $15/M out.

Whatever you choose as the default model for a spreadsheet, you can override it by specifying a different model in the formulas you create, as we’ll see in the examples below.

Case 1: Sentiment analysis

Start by entering the text you want to analyze in your A column. I entered the following five sample “review” text blurbs into my spreadsheet’s A column (ReviewText), one item per row:

ReviewTextSentimentThe new iPad Mini 7 has a great display, speedy response, and is light enough to hold for long periods of time. It’s a significant upgrade from my old (ancient?) iPad 5. My lone nit is that the form factor is thicker and less sleek now due to the change in connectors, but I’m still glad I upgraded. This desktop computer has a better processor and can handle much more demanding tasks such as running LLMs locally. However, it’s also noisy and comes with a lot of bloatware. The charger is affordable and does exactly what I want. This charger doesn’t work like I expected. This charger seems like a great value – until you try to use it. The connection is flakey and my device often ends up not fully charged overnight. 

In column B (Sentiment) — more specifically, in cell B2 next to my first text item, I added the formula

=claudeExtract(“sentiment analysis of ‘positive’, ‘negative’, or ‘neutral’”, A2, “claude-3-5-haiku-latest”, “temperature”, 0)

And then I clicked and dragged the formula down the rest of the rows next to cells with text.

Here’s an explanation of the formula.

=claudeExtract uses the syntax claudeExtract(property, text, model, argumentValuePairs)

Property is defined in the help file as “The property to extract from the text, e.g. ‘phone’.” For this case, I used a property of “sentiment analysis of ‘positive’, ‘negative’, or ‘neutral’” since that’s what I want Claude to extract from my text.

Text is my source cell location. If my first row of text is in cell A2, text value will be cell A2. Clicking and dragging the formula down the rest of the column applies it appropriately to the other text cells.

Although I chose a default model in Claude for Sheets main settings, I specified a model in the formula too so I could add optional arguments at the end of the formula. Google Sheets formulas don’t like it if you skip expected parameters when adding more at the end. Anthropic’s Model names documentation helpfully lists the specific syntax to use in formulas for each of its available models. In this case I chose claude-3-5-haiku-latest — which specifies the latest available version of the Claude 3.5 Haiku model.

The one optional argument I added was to set the model’s temperature to 0. An LLM’s temperature tells it how much randomness to use. Should it opt for the most likely result again and again (low temperature) or try to mix things up a bit (higher temperature)?

It’s sometimes helpful to view temperature as a measure of model “creativity.” Higher temperature can be nice when chatting with an LLM, so it doesn’t sound robotic and repetitive. However, for technical tasks, “more likely to be accurate” is a better idea than “be creative,” and that means lower temperatures. Anthropic advises: “For multiple-choice or analytical tasks, you’ll want [temperature] close to 0.”

Note: This ability to set model parameters like temperature is one advantage of using the LLM’s API via a spreadsheet or computer programming instead of a free chatbot without granular temperature control.

Results

Below is Claude’s sentiment analysis on my sample text. I agreed with all of them:

Haiku: Sentiment analysis

ReviewTextSentimentThe new iPad Mini 7 has a great display, speedy response, and is light enough to hold for long periods of time. It’s a significant upgrade from my old (ancient?) iPad 5. My lone nit is that the form factor is thicker and less sleek now due to the change in connectors, but I’m still glad I upgraded.positiveThis desktop computer has a better processor and can handle much more demanding tasks such as running LLMs locally. However, it’s also noisy and comes with a lot of bloatware.neutralThe charger is affordable and does exactly what I want.positiveThis charger doesn’t work like I expected.negativeThis charger seems like a great value – until you try to use it. The connection is flakey and my device often ends up not fully charged overnight.negative

Two important tips:

If you see errors or delays in some cells, you can ask Claude for Sheets to recalculate those by opening the Claude extension’s dropdown menu (Extensions > Claude for Sheets) and clicking on Recalculate all “DEFERRED / THROTTLED / #ERROR! Cells.

Claude may not finish all your spreadsheet calculations in one pass. If that happens, you can ask it to recalculate cells with missing values via the Extensions menu.
Sharon Machlis / IDG

To keep results from updating — which might change them and costs more API money — copy and paste the column values only (excluding the formulas) to a new column and then delete the original column with formulas. Anthropic says Claude for Sheets results are cached for a week, so opening the spreadsheet again after a week may cause everything to recalculate.

Case 2: Text classification into categories

For this test, I took a few social media posts about the R programming language (often used for data analysis), genAI tools, and other topics — some modified to try to make the topics slightly less obvious — and asked Claude to categorize them as Data, Generative AI, Security & Privacy, or Other.

I used the same workflow as above, just changing the formula’s property text using natural language instructions:

=claudeExtract(“one or more categories among ‘Data’, ‘Generative AI’, ‘Security & Privacy’. If more than one apply, include all. If none apply, say ‘Other’.”, A2, “claude-3-5-haiku-latest”, “temperature”, 0)

Results weren’t bad but were imperfect. The Haiku model didn’t apply both Security & Privacy and Generative AI to the text about LLM vulnerabilities, and it didn’t know that R involves data.

Haiku: Text categorization

Kyle has some great resources for using the GIS data sets he mentions, especially “Analyzing US Census Data: Methods, Maps, and Models in R” and the tidycensus packagedataOpenAI today announced new model 4o — basically 4o preview out of preview — it says is better and faster than the preview version. And multimodal. Also a new “pro” tier for ChatGPT and its 4o model, at an eye-popping $200/month.generative aiAn Introduction to R is a free online book by several professors (Univ of Aberdeen, Danish Technical Univ) and R practitioners that aims to, well, introduce you to using R. If you teach R, feel free to use some or all of the content in this book [with attribution]”. https://intro2r.comotherPrompt injection and supply chain vulnerabilities remain the main LLM vulnerabilities but as the technology evolves new risks come to light including system prompt leakage and misinformation. https://www.csoonline.com/article/575497/owasp-lists-10-most-critical-large-language-model-vulnerabilities.htmlsecurity & privacyThis story “tracked thousands of US military & intel personnel coming & going from classified sites, incl. NSA hubs & nuclear vaults. We know where they sleep, what they eat, and which brothels they visit. It’s an ocean of blackmail & national secrets within reach of every spy agency in the world.”data,security & privacy“Logging on to Bluesky for the first time felt a bit like walking into your apartment after a professional deep clean. The layout is the same, as are the appliances and furniture. But it just felt good to be there. I wanted to hang out.”other

When I tried with the Sonnet model (by swapping in claude-3-5-sonnet-latest as the model name), it did apply both categories to the LLM security text but also couldn’t recognize the R blurb as being data-related. The Opus model (claude-3-opus-latest) didn’t know R is data-related either.

My conclusion on categorizing text after this and other experiments: Either the text needs to be fairly straightforward about topics, or the prompt should include specific instructions about phrases likely to show up in your data that the LLM doesn’t know how to classify. In other words, experiment a bit and add examples or more detailed explanations when needed. When I added “Text about the R programming language is topic Data.” to the end of my prompt’s property text, Haiku applied “data” to my R-related posts.

Case 3: Entity extraction

I used some sample text to test extracting email addresses and phone numbers. The text was originally generated by a chatbot (Perplexity), and I modified it a bit. I then added that text to a new tab on the spreadsheet, and inserted the following formulas in columns B and C:

=claudeExtract(“all phone numbers”, A4, “claude-3-5-haiku-latest”, “temperature”, 0)

=claudeExtract(“all email addresses”, A4, “claude-3-5-haiku-latest”, “temperature”, 0)

Haiku performed quite well on this one:

Haiku: Phone number and email address extraction

TextPhoneEmailThe team is at [email protected] and (914) 737-9938. Headquarters is @ 512 Main [email protected] Smith from accounting ([email protected]) will be out of office until Friday. For urgent matters, reach him at [email protected] support: [email protected] or 1-800-555-3456 Technical issues? [email protected] For appointments: +1 (444) 867-53091-800-555-3456, +1 (444) [email protected], [email protected] notes from yesterday: – Dave ([email protected]) will handle the project – Marketing team contact: [email protected] / 555.777.8888 – Emergency line: 911-555-0123555.777.8888, [email protected], [email protected] forward any invoices to [email protected] or fax to (777) [email protected]

Trying to extract company names was tougher, since it’s a lot easier to spot phone number and email address patterns than to know the difference between a company name and a product name.

I tested company and product extraction with some recent headlines and summaries from Computerworld’s home page, asking simply for “companies” and “products” in my formulas. Haiku’s results:

Haiku: Company and product name extraction

TextCompaniesProducts10 steps to smarter Google account security Give yourself some added peace of mind by giving your Google account a thorough set of security reinforcements, both on Android and your desktop.GoogleGoogle account, Android, desktopHow ChatGPT works with iOS 18.2 iPhones and Siri Apple Intelligence is about to receive its first important update — introducing ChatGPT access.ChatGPT, iOS, Apple, SiriChatGPT, iOS 18.2 iPhones, Siri, Apple IntelligenceOECD: GenAI is affecting jobs previously thought safe from automation Though the technology will likely lead to new jobs, they may not benefit those who lost work due to automation.OECDGenAIMicrosoft moves to stop M365 Copilot from ‘oversharing’ data The generative AI assistant can surface sensitive information in over-permissioned files, a growing concern for businesses testing the technology. Microsoft is adding new features to SharePoint and Purview to make it easier to control what the tool can access.MicrosoftMicrosoft 365 Copilot, SharePoint, Purview

It was a bit disappointing that Haiku tagged ChatGPT, iOS, and Siri as companies. Sonnet did better on that one overall but worse on the last listing, adding two products as companies along with Microsoft:

Sonnet: Company and product name extraction

TextCompaniesProducts10 steps to smarter Google account security Give yourself some added peace of mind by giving your Google account a thorough set of security reinforcements, both on Android and your desktop.GoogleGoogle accountHow ChatGPT works with iOS 18.2 iPhones and Siri Apple Intelligence is about to receive its first important update — introducing ChatGPT access.AppleiOS 18.2, iPhones, Siri, ChatGPTOECD: GenAI is affecting jobs previously thought safe from automation Though the technology will likely lead to new jobs, they may not benefit those who lost work due to automation.OECDGenAIMicrosoft moves to stop M365 Copilot from ‘oversharing’ data The generative AI assistant can surface sensitive information in over-permissioned files, a growing concern for businesses testing the technology. Microsoft is adding new features to SharePoint and Purview to make it easier to control what the tool can access.Microsoft, SharePoint, PurviewM365 Copilot, SharePoint, Purview

When I tried the pricey Opus model, it got rows 2-4 correct but added Android as a company on the first row. My conclusion: I either need to give these models better prompts and more examples for a task like this or tolerate some inaccuracies.

However, models continue to improve, and a task that’s beyond their capabilities now may work better a few months down the road.

For the sake of comparison, I gave all this text to OpenAI’s new o1 model in the ChatGPT Plus chatbot and asked it to extract products. Those results were better: o1 correctly identified Google account, Android, ChatGPT, iOS 18.2, iPhones, Siri, M365 Copilot, SharePoint, and Purview as products.

And it was the only model to extract just Google, Apple, and Microsoft as “companies” — OECD, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, is not technically a company. When I asked o1 to extract both companies and organizations, it responded: Google (company), Apple (company), OECD (organization), and Microsoft (company).

(OpenAI doesn’t have its own extension for Google Sheets, although there are some paid third-party applications.)

Meanwhile, though, if you can tolerate some imperfect results and less than top-speed performance, you can start doing LLM-based natural language processing right within a spreadsheet. As Ethan Mollick, author of Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI, advised on Bluesky recently:

“I think firms worrying about AI hallucination should consider some questions:

1) How vital is 100% accuracy on a task?

2) How accurate is AI?

3) How accurate is the human who would do it?

4) How do you know 2 & 3?

5) How do you deal with the fact that humans are not 100%?

Not all tasks are the same.”

Source:: Computer World

By Deepti Pathak Instagram lets you stay connected with friends, family, and even new people, but sometimes you may…
The post How to Manage Who Can Message You on Instagram? appeared first on Fossbytes.

Source:: Fossbytes

By Hisan Kidwai Type Soul is one of the most iconic Roblox games inspired by the anime Bleach, where…
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Source:: Fossbytes

By Nick Godt The Department of Energy finalized a $1.25 billion loan to EVgo, the U.S. operator of EV charge points, for the construction of 7,500 new fast-charging stalls.

Source:: Digital Trends

AI is everywhere, but from where I sit, there are some strong signals that suggest the road to AI Everywhere is going to be a long-distance endurance race, rather than a sprint.

While these tools are seeing a lot of use since ChatGPT burst upon the scene, they are also generating lots of cost — and despite all the marketing, it still isn’t really clear if consumers are buying hardware based on ‘AI Inside.’ (Though it is already clear that workers are using AI in the shadows).

Even iPhone users — usually the fastest adopters of cutting-edge tech — seem to want convincing that AI is all it’s cracked up to be.

It’s almost as if people purchasing these products are a little turned off by a technology that threatens to destroy their employment, exacerbate wealth inequalities, and supercharge surveillance advertising in exchange for email summaries and a search engine powerful enough to help you file your next welfare benefit claim. 

Who could have seen that coming?

When it comes to tech, consumers have developed a resistance to the new. They’ve seen both bank accounts and politics hacked by technologies originally sold to them under the promise of making things better, and they are annoyed that the ad-free streaming television they began paying for now comes with added ads. They’ve seen this happen again and again, as a result of which they are suspicious of new tech — even when it is private and trusted like the AI that Apple is promising to provide. 

Why do I think this?

A recent survey of 2,000 US smartphone users by trade-in site SellCell found that 73% of iPhone users and 87% of Samsung users say the AI features they have been provided with in the latest software updates are adding little or no value. Samsung introduced its first genAI smartphone in March this year, while Apple rolled out Apple Intelligence with iOS 18.1 in October.

The survey was taken before Apple introduced iOS 18.2, and while it can’t be seen as representative, I think it shows that the expectation that AI will somehow deliver a big bump in device and PC sales may be misplaced — though server sales will see a big spike as service providers and businesses implement AI in their systems.

This doesn’t mean iPhone users aren’t interested in AI. Among iOS users who responded to the SellCell survey, 47.6% called it “key” in choosing a new phone; just 23.7% of Samsung users felt the same way. It may also matter that 21.1% of smartphone users already see AI as a very important deciding factor when choosing a new device.

What are the most popular AI features on phones?

While the survey does show there’s some journey to go before the promise of AI resonates fully with its audience, it also reveals which of the features made available in iOS 18.1 (pre-Genmoji) most interested users: Writing Tools (72%), Notification summaries (54%), Priority Messages (44.5%), Clean Up in Photos (29.1%), and Smart Reply in Mail and Messages (20.9%).

For comparison, Samsung AI users checked out thusly: Circle to Search (82.1%), Photo Assist (55.5%), Chat Assist (28.8%), Note Assist (17.4%), and Browsing Assist (11.6%).

It’s clear that Apple’s decision to Sherlock Grammarly (and do it privately) has given the company its most attractive suite of AI tools. People like tools that help them do everyday things better, it seems.

That desire for enhanced productivity is also what is driving employees to use AI services for their work, sometimes to the detriment of security policies and customer privacy.

At this stage in AI deployment, consumers still need convincing, and companies still need time to think about how best to deploy the tech — though a recent CCS Insight survey of business leaders showed that 82% are in the process of deployment. We are early in the mass adoption curve, and in that environment, taking a cautious and deliberate stance to adoption seems to be the best way to avoid falling into any unexpected disasters. Which is, oddly enough, how Apple has been approaching the topic since the get-go.

Will you pay for AI?

While I don’t see platform-wide AI as anything like the same animal as the fast-growing assemblage of customized focused AI services for specific industries and tasks, it still feels like the opportunity to monetize general purpose mass-market AI services remains some way off. 

Apple users are a little more ready. 

They are a lot more likely to consider investing in AI subscriptions (which may yet justify OpenAI’s gamble to offer its services through Apple’s kit), but subscription is a trickle, rather than a flood. The survey tells us 11.6% of them are likely to pay for a subscription to use AI services, in contrast to just 4% of Samsung users. 

However, most smartphone users (86.5% of iPhone users and 94.5% of Samsung users) said they would not pay to use AI. 

The decision seems pretty polarized in that just 1.9% of Apple users aren’t sure if they’d pay or not — in other words, there’s a pretty clear division between the two sides. That means the task of convincing people to adopt is already entirely based on showing those refuseniks compelling usage cases that help them come to terms with, trust, and develop the desire to use AI in some way.

Gathering the tribes

Eroding this resistance and bestowing these services with an increased perception of value will clearly be part of the product management journey for Apple AI, and every other kind of artificial intelligence. It may well be that as the uses of these tools become more widespread, people’s enthusiasm will increase. It is worth noting that at some point prior to the introduction of Apple Intelligence, some reports were claiming that some inside Apple themselves remained uncertain if the first echelon of tools to ship would resonate with consumers.

They may find themselves slightly relieved that while AI features don’t seem to grab the attention of every iPhone user, the ones who are making use of the tools seem pretty enthusiastic. iPhone users are also trying the new AI services as they appear, with 41.6% of those owning an iPhone that supports them confirming they’d used them, mostly writing tools, notification summaries, and priority messages.  

What does this tell us? 

I think it tells us that the current trend of just waving at a gadget that happens to support genAI and calling it an “AI smartphone” or an “AI PC” — or, in Apple’s case, a “complete mobile to PC AI ecosystem” — may need to be refined.

People need to feel more trust in these solutions, want to be convinced that potential damaging use is mitigated against, and most of all want applied use cases in which the tech can be applied in positive, life-enhancing ways. It’s also possible that the hype of AI is already behind us, and that now the search must shift to identifying those compelling instances in which the tech addresses significant human need. 

You can follow me on social media! Join me on BlueSky,  LinkedIn, Mastodon, and MeWe. 

Source:: Computer World

Despite low unemployment in the IT industry, IT hiring has slowed over the past two years and is expected to plateau in 2025 as employers prioritize experienced candidates with specialized skills, according to three new studies. They found that companies are shifting from volume hiring to “quality hiring,” leading to fewer roles for tech job candidates.

Staffing firm ManpowerGroup, which just published its Q1, 2025 report on hiring, claimed IT hiring leads all other professions in the US but predicted employers will still pull back on hiring next year because of “economic uncertainty.”

“As we move into 2025, we’re seeing stable year-over-year hiring trends, with employers holding onto the talent they have and planning muted hiring for the quarter ahead,” said Jonas Prising, ManpowerGroup Chair & CEO.

Overall, the studies by ManpowerGroup, online hiring platform Indeed, and Deloitte Consulting showed that IT hiring will increasingly be based on having flexible skills that can meet changing demands. “Employers know a skilled and adaptable workforce is key to navigating transformation, and many are prioritizing hiring and retaining people with in-demand flexible skills that can flex to where demand sits,” Prising said.

Becky Frankiewicz, president of the North America Region at ManpowerGroup, said that while hiring plans remain steady, a closer look at the data indicates employers will adopt a more strategic approach in the first quarter of 2025, with a focus on retaining existing talent and prioritizing in-demand skills in areas like IT, financial services, and manufacturing, she said.

“Real time, we are seeing companies take longer to make a hire — and seasonal hiring patterns are changing too, [with] more hiring earlier on in the season and less intense [during] holiday periods,” Frankeiwicz said. “This tells us this isn’t your typical cycle. We’re watching the labor market normalize at different speeds across industries. It’s a sign that organizations are adapting and becoming more precise in their workforce planning.” 

ManpowerGroup

Indeed economist Cory Stahle said the latest US jobs data shows increased IT hiring, indicating stability heading into the new year. At the same time, Stahle reiterated past assessments by others of a potential cooling, as companies continue to rebalance after a hiring surge in 2021 and early 2022 driven by pandemic-related demand for tech services.

“…Knowledge worker roles like in the tech and marketing sectors are cooling,” Indeed’s 2025 US Jobs & Hiring Trends Report said.

Quit rates also reflect labor market dynamics and job seeker confidence. A declining quit rate could signal lower enthusiasm, as workers are less confident in finding new jobs, according to Indeed. After rising sharply during the “Great Resignation” of 2021-2022, the quits rate has steadily declined, Indeed said. In September, it hit 1.9%, its lowest since July 2015, before rising to 2.1% in October.

The pullback in job postings, particularly in tech, likely affects job seekers’ confidence, Indeed said.

Additionally, generative artificial intelligence (genAI) is affecting entry-level hiring, as more and more repetitive or lower-level jobs, such as helpdesk tasks, get automated. Those jobs can often be handled by AI agents such as Microsoft 365 Copilot, Amazon CodeWhisperer, and IBM Watson Assistant.

Indeed

“Right now, genAI appears to have the greatest potential impact on knowledge workers,” Stahle said. “Recently released Hiring Lab research shows that genAI often does well with theoretical tasks like creating a recipe and does less well at hands-on tasks like making food.”

AI isn’t replacing jobs so much as it is reshaping the nature of work, said Elizabeth Lascaze, a principal in Deloitte Consulting’s Human Capital practice. She, too, sees evidence that entry-level roles focused on tasks like note-taking or basic data analysis are declining as organizations seek more experienced workers for junior positions.

“Today’s emerging roles require workers to quickly leverage data, generate insights, and solve problems,” she said, adding that those skilled in using AI, such as cybersecurity analysts applying AI for threat detection, will be highly sought after.

Although the adoption of AI has led to some “growing pains,” many workers are actually excited about it, Lascaze said, with most employees believing it will create new jobs and enhance their careers. “Our survey found that just 24% of early career workers and 14% of tenured workers fear their jobs will be replaced by AI,” Lascaze said. “Tenured workers are more likely to lead organizational strategy, so they may prioritize AI’s potential to improve efficiency, sophistication, and work quality in existing roles rather than AI’s potential to eliminate certain positions.

“These workers reported being slightly more focused on building AI fluency than early-career employees,” Lascaze said. “With so many early-career employees reporting excitement around using AI, organizations should establish reverse mentorship opportunities where tenured staff can learn the ropes.”

GenAI-related jobs are still rare, accounting for about two in 1,000 nationwide as of October. But they are growing quickly, according to Indeed.

Along those lines, a new report by online interview platform Karat found that the share of US engineering leaders now hiring for AI engineer roles (60%) has nearly doubled compared to last year (35%) – and they’re prioritizing AI skills:

AI engineering (74%)

Integrating AI functionality into products via API (62%)

Data science (58%)

The arrival of AI and genAI tools in the workplace has meant increased workloads and higher expectations for many workers. Both are major AI-related career issues: Indeed’s recent survey on genAI’s impact on workers found that 77% of AI users reported heavier workloads, yet nearly half were unsure how to use AI for efficiency.

Many of Indeed’s survey respondents said they face a lack of training, AI quality issues, ethical concerns, and disappointment with AI tools. That’s a critical mismatch with the 96% of C-suite leaders who expect AI to boost productivity, which is unlikely to happen until they align AI tools and training with workforce capabilities and expectations, the survey indicated.

Indeed

Deloitte’s own survey found 68% of older workers — and 83% of early-career workers — now use AI. Tenured employees with AI experience remain just as likely to embrace AI when given the right learning opportunities. And that opens the door for internal training possibilities.

“An internal AI skills marketplace could connect them with projects to apply their skills and enhance strategic planning,” Lascaze said. “Formal mentorship programs, where early-career employees are paired with tenured staff, can become safe places for junior staff to experiment with problem-solving, learn how to navigate their careers and deepen their interpersonal skills.”

Source:: Computer World

By Deepti Pathak Traveling to new places often means finding ways to stay connected for work or to keep…
The post Jetpac eSIM: Budget-Friendly eSIM Solution appeared first on Fossbytes.

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By Nick Godt PlugStar has revamped its website to simplify the EV buying process, including giving tips on buying incentives.

Source:: Digital Trends

By Nick Godt The transition team of President-elect Donald Trump is planning to end existing car-crash reporting requirements to safety regulators.

Source:: Digital Trends

By Nick Godt Nearly all current owners of EVs are either satisfied with the experience, and 92% of them plan to buy another EV, according to a global survey.

Source:: Digital Trends

Microsoft released 74 updates in its December Patch Tuesday update, with patches for Windows, Office and Edge — but none for Microsoft Exchange Server or SQL server. One zero-day (CVE-2024-49138) affecting how Windows desktops handle error logs requires a “Patch Now” warning, but the Office, Visual Studio and Edge patches can be added to your standard release schedule. There are also several revisions this month that require attention before deployment, including two (CVE-2023-36435 and CVE-2023-38171) that will need extensive testing. 

The Readiness team has provided this infographic outlining the risks associated with each of the updates this cycle. (More information about the previous six months of Patch Tuesday releases is available here.)

Known issues 

Other than the Roblox issue, Microsoft has published a reduced set of known issues for December:

There have been reports that the OpenSSH (Open Secure Shell) service fails to start, preventing SSH connections. The service fails with no detailed logging, and manual intervention is required to run the sshd.exe process. Microsoft has offered several mitigation options for those still affected.

For those still on Windows Server 2008 you might receive warnings that Windows Update failed to complete successfully. Microsoft is working on this issue and expects a fix to be released soon. Many users will now have to move to the second stage of “Extended Support Updates) or “ESU.”

Major revisions

For the final Patch Tuesday in 2024, there are these revisions to previously released updates:

CVE-2023-36435 and CVE-2023-38171: Microsoft QUIC Denial of Service Vulnerability. This is the third update to this two-year-old series of patches to the Microsoft .NET platform. Rather than a strictly information update, these patches will need to be added to your December release schedule.

CVE-2024-49112 : Windows Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. This is a release for this month’s update. This does not happen often, as this patch was only released 24 hours ago. (In fact, due to an error in the documentation, this patch was duplicated in the release notes as well.)

CVE-2023-44487: HTTP/2 Rapid Reset Attack. The update relates to a change in affected software — meaning all recent supported versions of Microsoft .NET and Visual Studio are included in the scope of the patch. Add this to your development update release schedule for the month.

CVE-2024-43451: NTLM Hash Disclosure Spoofing Vulnerability. This late edition revision has been widely reported in the news as it affects older versions of Windows Server (2008 and 2012) and has received some generous technical support from outside Microsoft.

This is an unusual month for revisions, with several patches from 2023 updated in the final months of 2024, with increased scopes and associated testing requirements. The Readiness team advises extra caution addressing both CVE-2023-36435 and CVE-2023-38171.

Windows lifecycle and enforcement updates

There were no product or security enforcements for this update cycle. However, Microsoft has noted that:

 “There won’t be a non-security preview release for the month of December 2024. There will be a monthly security release for December 2024. Normal monthly servicing for both security and non-security preview releases will resume in January 2025.”

Each month, we analyze the latest Patch Tuesday updates from Microsoft and provide detailed, actionable testing guidance based on a large application portfolio and a detailed analysis of the patches and their potential impact on the Windows platforms and application installations.

For this cycle, we have grouped the critical updates and required testing efforts into different functional areas including:

Networking and Remote Desktop Services

This month’s update addresses key components of Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Services with the following testing guidance:

Test RDP connections over the Microsoft Remote Desktop Gateway.

Try RPC over HTTP/HTTPS pathways while validating Remote Desktop broker features.

Test out DNS signing key operations for RRAS environments.

Validate WAN port operations (try netsh commands).

Local Windows File System and Storage

Minor changes to the Windows desktop file system will require a test of the ReFS system (light CRUD testing required). Due to changes in how Windows handles non-English characters, a test of Input Method Editors (IME’s) is required for Japanese formats. 

Virtual Machines and Microsoft Hyper-V

A minor update to a key virtualization driver will require some traffic testing and monitoring for Microsoft’s Hyper-V and virtualization platforms. While these recent updates are generally low-profile patches to Windows subsystems, we feel that the primary testing this month should focus on validating remote network traffic. The file system and Hyper-V changes require light testing. The goal for most enterprises is to get these Microsoft updates deployed before change control “lock-down” arrives.

Each month, we break down the update cycle into product families (as defined by Microsoft) with the following basic groupings: 

Browsers (Microsoft IE and Edge) 

Microsoft Windows (both desktop and server) 

Microsoft Office

Microsoft Exchange Server 

Microsoft development platforms (ASP.NET Core, .NET Core and Chakra Core)

Adobe (if you get this far) 

Browsers 

There were just two minor updates for Microsoft Edge this month, with CVE-2024-12053 and CVE-2024-49041 both rated as important. Add these low-profile changes to your standard release schedule.

Windows 

Though there is a strong focus on networking, this release also affects the following Windows features:

Windows Remote Desktop and related routing servers

Windows Kernel and Kernel Mode Drivers

Printing

Microsoft Hyper-V

Microsoft LDAP and LSASS

Windows Error Reporting

Unfortunately, there is a zero-day (CVE-2024-49138) that has been reported as publicly disclosed and exploited in the wild that affects how Windows creates error log files. Add these Windows updates your Patch Now cycle.

Microsoft Office 

Microsoft released nine patches to Office, all rated important. In addition, the company  offered some additional security measures and mitigations to the platform with the release of the advisory ADV240002, which covers the following areas:

Perimeter Defense

Network Security

Endpoint Protection

Application Security

This month’s update affects Microsoft Excel, SharePoint and core Microsoft Office libraries. Add these patches to your standard Office release schedule.

Microsoft SQL (nee Exchange) Server 

There were no updates for either Microsoft SQL or Exchange server.

Microsoft development platforms

Microsoft released a single update to the experimental AI music project Muzic with CVE-2024-49063. We’ll take this as a “win” with no further updates to Microsoft .NET or Visual Studio.

Adobe Reader (and other third-party updates)

Adobe has released a completely normal, run-of-the mill update to both Reader and Acrobat (Adobe Release notes). This is good news. This update has not been included in the Microsoft release cycle, which is as it should be. Adding to the huge, globally shared sense of relief, Adobe has chosen to modify its patching methodology to fall in line with industry best practices. Long-suffering IT admins have had to create (and maintain) “process workflow exceptions” to handle Adobe updates, usually with complex PowerShell scripts. No longer! 

Thank you, Adobe; there is no greater gift than a few less things to do (repeatedly).

For those readers who have enjoyed delving into the deeper details of all things patching, the Readiness team would like to say, “Thank you for the time and attention and we look forward to the New Year.” 

No surprises, right?

Source:: Computer World

By Siôn Geschwindt Baller League — a new six-a-side football league that has attracted support from legends like Ronaldinho, Gary Lineker, and Luis Figo — has raised $25mn from EQT Ventures as it looks to initiate a “new era” for the beautiful game.  German entrepreneur Felix Starck co-founded the Baller League last year alongside former players Mats Hummels and Lukas Podolski. The founders wanted to change the way younger audiences engage, view, and interact with the world’s most popular sport.  The league, which is now expanding from Germany to the UK and the US, comprises shorter 30-minute matches that are available to stream…This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

By Siôn Geschwindt Boston Dynamics’ robot dog “Spot” has become somewhat of an internet sensation, no doubt thanks to its (perhaps disturbingly) killer dance moves or displays of super-strength.    But Spot is far from the only robodog on the block. One of its competitors is ANYmal, an autonomous quadruped that’s impressively good at everything from parkour to climbing ladders.    Apart from doing tricks, ANYmal also has a real job. It does routine inspections in some of the toughest places on Earth. Think old nuclear power plants, abandoned mines, and offshore oil rigs.  Cameras, sensors and gas detectors act as the robodog’s eyes…This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

By Deepti Pathak Roblox is a popular online platform for playing games and creating experiences. It offers a vast…
The post How Many Games Are On Roblox? appeared first on Fossbytes.

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By Deepti Pathak The Headless Horseman is a popular item bundle on Roblox, primarily known for its headless feature….
The post How much is Headless on Roblox? appeared first on Fossbytes.

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By Linnea Ahlgren Microsoft probably needs no introduction. But in case you are not familiar with the Microsoft for Startups program, it is an initiative that provides free licences and Azure credits to selected software entrepreneurs over the course of three years.  Needless to say, its general manager, Hans Yang, is somewhat of an expert when it comes to identifying the ideas that will make it to market and that particular drive he calls “founder energy.”  “With some founders, it is immediate — you can see it right off the bat,” Yang tells TNW during an interview at the Red Bull Basement global…This story continues at The Next WebOr just read more coverage about: Microsoft

Source:: The Next Web

By Siôn Geschwindt From bricklaying robots to zero-carbon cement, startups are shaking up construction in a high-tech bid to build better, greener structures.  One of these early-stage ventures is Finland-based Aisti. Founded in 2019, the company has come up with a way to make acoustic tiles that are “carbon-negative.” Acoustic panels are a common construction material used to reduce noise and improve sound quality in buildings. Aisti has raised €29mn in a mix of VC and debt funding to build its first industrial-scale factory in Kitee, a small town about four hours northeast of Helsinki.  The startup plans to bring the tiles to market…This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

Microsoft has offered a miniscule concession to users determined to install Windows 11 on PCs that don’t meet its minimum hardware requirements: you will be able to do it, but on your own head be it should things go wrong.

The apparent moderation of its previously hardline upgrade policy appeared on a support page update which lists the numerous disadvantages of pressing ahead with a Windows 11 on an unsupported system.

These include unspecified compatibility problems, and a watermark noting a PC’s non-compliant status that will appear on the Windows 11 desktop. More significantly, it states:

“If you proceed with installing Windows 11, your PC will no longer be supported and won’t be entitled to receive updates.”

This is unambiguous – no security updates. And that’s in addition to the rather alarming warning that any “damages to your PC due to a lack of compatibility aren’t covered under the manufacturer warranty.”

Those are serious gotchas, the same ones Microsoft has been warning about for some time. Only a week ago, a blog by Microsoft senior program manager Steven Hosking described the most important element of the Windows 11 requirements, support for Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0, as “non-negotiable.” That remains the case.

Not sugarcoating it

What has changed? Despite some optimistic news reporting on this issue, nothing. Microsoft doesn’t want users to upgrade to Windows 11 on unsupported hardware, but is now acknowledging that some people will push ahead regardless. That being so, it wants to tell them what might happen, so they can’t say they weren’t warned.

The date Windows 10 is due to stop receiving updates, Oct. 14, 2025, remains the same. Upgrading to Windows 11 without meeting the hardware requirements won’t change the negative consequences of this. Nor does the update explain how users can bypass the minimum requirements, should they choose to do so.

Importantly, users who regret upgrading will only have ten days to revert to Windows 10. After that, the files enabling this function will be deleted to save disk space, and the “go back” button in Recovery options will disappear.

Microsoft also doesn’t elaborate on what it means by Windows 11 “compatibility issues,” so this is a matter of guesswork. However, it’s possible to imagine that new features that assume a TPM is available could cause instability on a machine lacking this facility. It could also affect drivers for older hardware no longer supported in Windows 11, although this would be likely to be an issue over the longer term.

Meet the TPM

Microsoft’s minimum requirements for Windows 11 cover several hardware components, including having enough RAM and a powerful enough microprocessor. But the most contentious issue is whether a PC contains or supports a Trusted Platform Module (TPM), specifically version 2.0, released in 2014.

A TPM is a secure enclave for storing data such as cryptographic keys, certificates, and biometric information fundamental for the security of a PC, including those required for low level PC checks such as Secure Boot, or for the use of Microsoft’s BitLocker in its more secure mode. Having one is somewhere between a good idea and essential, as more and more software systems going forward assume one will be there at the root of trust. For a summary of the arguments in favor of upgrading to a system with TPM 2.0, Hosking’s blog is a good place to start.

When it comes to TPMs and Windows, PCs divide into three categories, the first of which supports the functionality using a TPM 2.0 chip installed on the motherboard. The second doesn’t have a TPM chip, but can either have one installed using a chip upgrade kit from the motherboard vendor or can have TPM enabled through firmware at UEFI level. The third are PCs that don’t support either option, which means they can’t be upgraded to Windows 11 without a registry hack.

Intel and AMD PCs from about 2017 onwards should support a hardware or software TPM 2.0, while earlier ones going back to Intel’s Skylake 6th generation in 2015 might do so, depending on the specific processor and support at motherboard and UEFI level.

Extended support

For anyone who doesn’t want the risk of a Windows 11 upgrade on unsupported hardware, or just prefers Windows 10, after October 2025 the most secure option will be to pay for an Extended Security Updates (ESU) subscription at an unconfirmed cost of $30 per annum for individuals. That way, updates won’t disappear abruptly, putting the PC in peril as vulnerabilities pile up over time.

Not surprisingly, a lot of users are happy with the status quo and don’t feel they should be forced to upgrade to Windows 11 or to pay to remain on Windows 10. This, arguably, is Microsoft’s fault. It hasn’t always clearly explained the benefits of its minimum requirement. That, unfortunately, includes explaining why TPM 2.0 is a good idea, and how its software increasingly depends on it for security.

Source:: Computer World

Apple has introduced significant improvements for enterprise IT admins in the newly-released iOS 18.2, including the power to manage the latest salvo of additional Apple Intelligence features and more.  Here’s a swift look at what’s new.

Giving you control of Apple Intelligence

Apple’s approach to generative AI (genAI) is all about combining convenience with privacy. That means it has built large language models (LLMs) that work on the device, supplemented by highly secure cloud-based models that use highly secure Apple servers in data centers, and partnerships with third-party services to handle tasks the company’s own models can’t accommodate.

That last thing — use of third-party services — is where some Apple customers might need reassurance. That’s because people might at times share what should be confidential data with these services, which could place companies or individuals at risk of running afoul of data protection laws. Apple has only one genAI partner at this time, OpenAI, and to help mitigate such issues the ChatGPT developer says it does not keep private information pertaining to a request. With cloud queries heavily encrypted, Apple keeps no information at all, which is part of the attraction of using its own LLM models, and users can choose not to work with ChatGPT at all, if they prefer.

But what about unauthorized use of ChatGPT? Or even Apple’s own genAI models? Is there any way a data security-conscious company can try to protect its data against unauthorized sharing?

Now, there is. Starting in iOS 18.2, Apple has, as promised, introduced tools that let Mobile Device Management (MDM) services manage all the latest Apple Intelligence integrations, including ChatGPT, which itself includes search.

What this means is that IT admins can permit use of some, none, or all of the available Apple Intelligence tools, including the capacity to generate images in Image Playground. How this control is made available will likely differ between MDM providers, but you should see tools to manage iOS 18.2’s newly-added Apple Intelligence features arrive in your management console soon. Apple introduced MDM controls for Writing tools, Mail summarization, phone call recoding, and hiding apps in iOS 18.1.

Setting a default browser

While it took time to be convinced, Apple is beginning to allow people to use more browsers than before, potentially opening up competition in the browser industry. The thing is, not all browsers are created equal and it’s possible that some companies might require employees to use a specific browser on a managed device. This has now been made possible with an MDM tool that lets admins set a default browser and prevent users from modifying that browser, or choosing an alternative. (This should help companies maintain specified browser security policies, for example.)

What else is new?

These additions supplement an earlier wave of enterprise-focused admin enhancements introduced with iOS 18.1. 

Hardware-based MFA in Safari is now more reliable when used with security keys.

You can disable RCS messages on managed devices — essential, given the standard doesn’t yet support encryption.

It is possible to prevent users from deactivating VPN use on a per-app basis.

Admins can prevent apps from being locked or hidden by users.

Service discovery in enrollment can request well-known resources from alternative locations specified by MDM 

Tell it from the rooftops

Each time Apple makes one of these iterative enhancements for enterprise deployments of its devices, it shows the extent to which it now deeply supports enterprise markets. If I’m honest, the company should try to make more out of this, particularly as its approach toward building an ecosystem for trusted AI marries so well and so deeply with its existing reputation around security, ease-of-use, customer satisfaction, employee loyalty and TCO advantages in contrast to other platforms. 

But for most admins, the critical piece in the company’s most recent MDM updates will likely be the control it gives them over Apple Intelligence, which should reassure business users that limited deployment of these tools can be accomplished in a deliberate and responsible manner.

You can follow me on social media! Join me on BlueSky,  LinkedIn, Mastodon, and MeWe. 

Source:: Computer World

By Nick Godt Costco is partnering with Electrify America to offer EV fast-charging at five new locations in California, Colorado, and Florida.

Source:: Digital Trends