FT: “Generative AI advocates say the systems can make workers more productive and more creative. A code-generating system from Microsoft’s GitHub division is already coming up with 40 per cent of the code produced by software developers who use the system, according to the company. The output of systems like these can be “mind unblocking” for anyone who needs to come up with new ideas in their work, says James Manyika, a senior vice-president at Google who looks at technology’s impact on society. Built into everyday software tools, they could they suggest ideas, check work or even produce large volumes of content. Yet for all its ease of use and potential to disrupt large parts of the tech landscape, generative AI presents profound challenges for the companies building it and trying to apply it in practice, as well as for the many people who are likely to come across it before long in their work or personal lives. Foremost is the reliability problem.”
WSJ: “We know what we’re supposed to do before bed to ensure a good night’s sleep: Set a fixed bedtime. Turn off our screens. Create a relaxing routine before bed. Now, sleep researchers say that what we think about as we try to go to sleep is just as important. They recommend that as we prepare to drift off, we practice something called savoring, which is imagining a positive experience we’ve had in great detail…Many of us ruminate as we’re trying to drift off. This is where savoring can help. “It gives your brain something else to focus on—something emotionally compelling and pleasurable,” says Dana McMakin, a professor of psychology at Florida International University, who studies savoring.”
Tim Martinez: “Pop quiz: 1. What problem are you the best in the world at solving? (you can’t solve all problems) 2.Whom specifically do you solve this problem for? (you can’t help everyone) 3. What information can you provide that validates your claim? 4. How long does it take to see the results/effects of your solution? (the shorter the distance the higher the value) 5.How much do you charge? (is your sales process overly complicated?) 6. Where can I buy it? Don’t let the answer to any of these questions be a mystery to you, your staff or your customer. Recommendation: have everyone in your organization answer these questions. Then work diligently to ensure alignment across the board.”
Why VR/AR Gets Farther Away as It Comes Into Focus: by Matthew Ball. “As we observe the state of XR in 2023, it’s fair to say the technology has proved harder than many of the best-informed and most financially endowed companies expected.”
Eric Ashman: “Navigating the startup journey can be an overwhelming experience. There is a lot to think about, and time passes quickly. You need to force yourself to pick your head back up. Let yourself see your startup from a broader perspective. Identify macro trends that might be impacting your team’s performance or future funding prospects. Get out and talk to customers, investors, and your employees. Spend time in other parts of your business and see your challenges from different perspectives. Sometimes our reaction to stressful situations is to hunker down, put our heads down, and relentlessly attack the one problem in front of us, trying to bludgeon it to resolution. Don’t fall into this trap. Don’t be the hound. Pick up your head.”
Economist: “For all that it lacks, Ms Bika’s school [in Nigeria] has one advantage. At the start of last year the state education ministry gave each of her teachers a small tablet with a black-and-white touch screen. Every two weeks they use it to download detailed scripts that guide each lesson they deliver. These scripts tell the teachers what to say, what to write on the blackboard, and even when to walk around the classroom. Ms Bika says this new way of working is saving teachers time that they used to spend scribbling their own lesson plans—and her pupils are reading better, too…There are doubtless many ways to teach a scripted lesson badly. But the idea in Nigeria is that they will tend to make classes more compelling. The scripts enforce instructional practices that are routine in many rich-country classrooms but often neglected in poor ones. These include techniques such as pausing frequently to pose questions to the class, instead of delivering long lectures at the blackboard, or encouraging pupils to try to solve a problem by chatting to the child sitting next to them. Detailed, prescriptive lesson plans are also supposed to relieve teachers of the burden of having to write their own. That, advocates hope, will leave them more energy for other jobs—such as making sure their charges stay engaged.”
