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Category Archives: Microsoft

As Internet enshittification marches on, here are some of the worst offenders

Ars Technica: “Two years ago, a Canadian writer named Cory Doctorow coined the phrase “enshittification” to describe the decay of online platforms. The word immediately set the Internet ablaze, as it captured the growing malaise regarding how almost everything about the web seemed to be getting worse. “It’s my theory explaining how the Internet was colonized by platforms, why all those platforms are degrading so quickly and thoroughly, why it matters, and what we can do about it,” Doctorow explained in a follow-up article. “We’re all living through a great enshittening, in which the services that matter to us, that we rely on, are turning into giant piles of shit. It’s frustrating. It’s demoralizing. It’s even terrifying.” Doctorow believes there are four basic forces that might constrain companies from getting worse: competition, regulation, self-help, and tech workers. One by one, he says, these constraints have been eroded as large corporations squeeze the Internet and its denizens for dollars. If you want a real-world, literal example of enshittification, let’s look at actual poop. When Diapers.com refused Amazon’s acquisition offer, Amazon lit $100 million on fire, selling diapers way below cost for months, until Diapers.com folded. With another competitor tossed aside, Amazon was then free to sell diapers at its price from wherever it wanted to source them. Anyway, we at Ars have covered a lot of things that have been enshittified. Here are some of the worst examples we’ve come across.

  • Smart TVs‘;
  • Google’s Voice Assistant;
  • Portable Document Format (PDF);
  • Televised Sports;
  • Google Search;
  • Windows;
  • and Web Discourse

Microsoft just killed the ability to look up words and phrases in Word

PC World: “Since 2016, Microsoft Word users have had access to Smart Lookup, a nifty feature that lets you right-click on a word or phrase and bring up definitions, synonyms, and relevant links to sites like Wikipedia. Now, however, Windows Latest reports that Microsoft has decided to retire the Smart Lookup feature. If you check… Continue Reading

Microsoft Bundling Practices Focus of Federal Antitrust Probe

ProPublica: “The Federal Trade Commission is investigating Microsoft in a wide-ranging probe that will examine whether the company’s business practices have run afoul of antitrust laws, according to people familiar with the matter. In recent weeks, FTC attorneys have been conducting interviews and setting up meetings with Microsoft competitors. One key area of interest is… Continue Reading

Harvard Is Releasing a Massive Free AI Training Dataset Funded by OpenAI and Microsoft

Wired – “The project’s leader says that allowing everyone to access the collection of public-domain books will help “level the playing field” in the AI industry. Harvard University announced Thursday it’s releasing a high-quality dataset of nearly 1 million public-domain books that could be used by anyone to train large language models and other AI… Continue Reading

US officials urge Americans to use encrypted apps amid unprecedented cyberattack

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), National Security Agency (NSA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and international partners published today a joint guide, Enhanced Visibility and Hardening Guidance for Communications Infrastructure, that provides best practices to protect against a People’s Republic of China (PRC)-affiliated threat actor that has compromised networks of major global telecommunications… Continue Reading

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, November 23, 2024

Via LLRX – Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, November 23, 2024 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on… Continue Reading

LinkedIn launches its first AI agent to take on the role of job recruiters

TechCrunch: “LinkedIn, the social platform used by professionals to connect with others in their field, hunt for jobs, and develop skills, is taking the wraps off its latest effort to build artificial intelligence tools for users. Hiring Assistant is a new product designed to take on a wide array of recruitment tasks, from ingesting scrappy… Continue Reading

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, October 26, 2024

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, October 26, 2024 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and… Continue Reading

Microsoft brings AI-powered overviews to Bing

TechCrunch: Microsoft has launched its answer to Google’s AI-powered search experiences: Bing generative search. On the heels of a pilot in July, Bing generative search — albeit still under development — began rolling out to all U.S. users this morning. The easiest way to invoke it is by searching “Bing generative search” on Bing; Microsoft also… Continue Reading