Recognition Trap, Samsung Unpacked, Intuit Layoffs, Redbox, and Panpsychism
Recognition Trap, Samsung Unpacked, Intuit Layoffs, Redbox, and Panpsychism
Weekly Review of News in Technology, UX and AI
If you haven’t followed us on Tiktok or Twitter, now is a great chance.
Here’s the latest news, resources, and use cases from the world of product, UX, AI and technology. Let’s go:
💯 Products that Don’t Suck
👀 Recognition Trap
🤳 Samsung
🤑 Intuit Layoffs
📀 Redbox
🥸 Conspiracies
🌳 Panpsychism
Podcast
Stop Making Products that Suck - A Conversation with Debbie Levitt
In this episode of Prodity: Product by Design, I interview Debbie Levitt, often referred to as the Mary Poppins of CX and UX. With a wealth of experience in strategy, research, and customer experience, Debbie shares her insights on the importance of good UX, the need to challenge conventional wisdom, and the critical role of research in product development. Whether you're a product manager, designer, or someone passionate about customer experience, this episode is packed with valuable insights and actionable tips about making products that don't suck.
News and Useful Reads
The recognition trap: Understanding the dark side of workplace praise
As this article points out, it’s important to understand the difference between recognition and appreciation. We need both, but they need to be paired appropriately at work for us to be fulfilled in our jobs.
Relationships are vital to our well-being and a life well-lived. Multiple longitudinal studies have shown the central role human connection plays in our health, happiness, and resilience. That’s not just true of our partners, friends, and families either. Research conducted by Aaron Hurst, founder of Imperative, suggests that relationships are also a key driver of fulfillment at work.
The Morning After: Everything Samsung revealed at Galaxy Unpacked 2024
I’ve got my eye on the Galaxy Ring, especially as a long-time Galaxy phone user. I’ve heard lots of good things about Oura Rings, so we’ll see how Samsung does. And maybe they’ll be able to convince me to give up my beloved Jabra earbuds for their airpod clones…
Intuit CEO's letter to employees announcing layoffs goes viral
In a case study of how not to do layoffs, Intuit just laid off 1,800 employees and called them “underperformers” as it showed them the door.
In a memo to employees, Intuit CEO Sasan Goodarzi revealed that the company is laying off 1,800 employees, which is 10% of the company’s workforce. He stated that the company’s latest move isn’t the result of cost-cutting, but rather due to its recent investment into AI.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
RIP Redbox, a Bad Idea at the Worst Time
Redbox could have been a great idea in a different time or place. It was just sandwiched between the era of video stores, the rise of Netflix DVDs, and the beginning of streaming.
But the death of Redbox also indicates something else: another last belch in the death of physical media. Even as acolytes cling to vinyl and other bits of physical product, DVDs and Blu-rays disappear. Netflix shipped its last disc almost a year ago. Best Buy is planning to phase out the sales of physical discs. Often the only way to locate obscure titles, DVDs (and, in some cases, VHS) are becoming harder and harder to find. That’s why LA’s nonprofit video store Vidiots is working so hard to keep a library of them.
Shooting conspiracies trend on X as Musk endorses Trump
Your periodic reminder that actual reporting takes time and fact-checking. So as news happens, we will often see lots of bad information before we get good information. It’s the world we live in now.
Conspiracy theories about the shooting at a rally for Donald Trump began surfacing on X shortly after the news broke this afternoon, with the platform promoting topics including “#falseflag” and “staged” to users. X owner Elon Musk has staunchly advocated for “free speech” on social media platforms — which can include misinformation like the above.
Other Interesting Finds
What if absolutely everything is conscious?
We explored this idea recently as we reviewed the book God, Human, Animal, Machine last month:
As AI becomes more intelligent, it is forcing us to really think about questions like “what is consciousness?” and “what is a soul?”
In the West, the growing dominance of monotheistic religion put a damper on panpsychism for centuries. But it began to spring up again during the Renaissance. Accepting the 16th-century astronomer Copernicus’s radical new idea that Earth doesn’t occupy a privileged position at the center of the universe, philosophers like Giordano Bruno figured humans don’t occupy a privileged position, either. If we humans have a soul, he reasoned, then “there is nothing that does not possess a soul.”