RTO, Doge, Alexa Plus, Tech Trends, and Bad News
Weekly Review of News in Technology, UX and AI
Here’s the latest news, resources, and use cases from the world of product, UX, AI and technology. Let’s go:
📊 Data Engineering
⌨️ RTO
💩 Doge
➕ Alexa Plus
☠️ Skype
📈 2025 Tech Trends
🎂 Being Successful
📰 Bad News
Podcast
Lessons in Data Engineering: Scaling, AI, and Open Source with Sandy Ryza
In this episode of Product by Design, Kyle chats with Sandy Ryza, lead engineer on the Dagster project, author, and thought leader in data engineering. Sandy shares his journey through the world of data—from building big data tools at Cloudera to working as a data scientist, product manager, and engineer—and how those experiences led him to help create Dagster, an open-source data orchestration platform.
News and Useful Reads
Google’s Sergey Brin Urges Workers to the Office ‘at Least’ Every Weekday
And don’t forget, 60 hours per week is apparently the sweet spot. Do it for the shareholders.
“I recommend being in the office at least every weekday,” he wrote in a memo posted internally on Wednesday evening that was viewed by The New York Times. He added that “60 hours a week is the sweet spot of productivity” in the message to employees who work on Gemini, Google’s lineup of A.I. models and apps.
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DOGE Is Working on Software That Automates the Firing of Government Workers
This seems like a great idea and couldn’t go wrong at all. Certainly won’t result in firing critical people, like those managing the nuclear arsenal.
Engineers for Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, are working on new software that could assist mass firings of federal workers across government, sources tell WIRED.
With Alexa Plus, Amazon finally reinvents its best product
Amazon really hasn’t invested like it should in Alexa. As this article says, it is currently best for setting timers or turning off lights. But this could be changing.
But with the launch of Alexa Plus, Amazon has finally taken a big step toward that goal. The voice assistant has been “one hundred percent re-architected,“ Amazon’s head of Devices and Services, Panos Panay, said in an interview with The Verge. “Alexa did need to get better. It did need to grow. It did need to get to the next level,” he said. “Our goal wasn’t just to have a chatbot; it was to have Alexa be able to get stuff done.”
Skype will take its final curtain (and video) call May 5
It’s almost time to say farewell to Skype. Microsoft will be sunsetting it in favor of Teams.
Microsoft is officially getting rid of Skype as of May 5 and encouraging its users to pick Teams once and for all. In its announcement, the company stated that the move will allow it to "streamline our free consumer communications offerings so we can more easily adapt to customer needs."
Tech Trends 2025
In Deloitte’s 16th annual Tech Trends report, AI is the common thread of nearly every trend. Moving forward, it will be part of the substructure of everything we do.
Other Interesting Finds
How To Be Successful: 4 Secrets Backed By Research
Everyone’s timing in life is different. If you are feeling old and haven’t achieved the level of success you’re hoping for, don’t despair.
The world is so busy celebrating the Mark Zuckerbergs that they forget the Vera Wangs – she didn’t even get into fashion until she was 40. David Sedaris didn’t publish his first book until he was 38. Laura Ingalls Wilder only started writing “Little House on the Prairie” at sixty-five.
We’re all drawn to bad news. Here’s how to fight it.
I often have to take breaks from anything “news” related. It can be overwhelming, especially now that the world feels like it’s spiraling down the toilet. But is everything bad? Maybe not everything…
I’ve spent nearly 25 years as a professional journalist. So I feel I have some authority when I tell you that the media really does have a notable bias. However, it’s not for Democrats or Republicans, neoliberalism or progressive economics, woke or not woke. It’s a bias for bad news.