<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" ><generator uri="https://jekyllrb.com/" version="4.3.2">Jekyll</generator><link href="https://blog.finette.com/feed.xml" rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" /><link href="https://blog.finette.com/" rel="alternate" type="text/html" /><updated>2023-08-07T11:45:57-06:00</updated><id>https://blog.finette.com/feed.xml</id><title type="html">The Thin Wisps of Tomorrow by Pascal Finette</title><subtitle>Discover Today What Matters Tomorrow: The Thin Wisps of Tomorrow is Pascal Finette’s commentary into signals, trends, and drivers.</subtitle><author><name>Pascal Finette</name></author><entry><title type="html">🎉 The Back-to-the-Office Backlash</title><link href="https://blog.finette.com/the-back-to-the-office-backlash-230807/" rel="alternate" type="text/html" title="🎉 The Back-to-the-Office Backlash" /><published>2023-08-07T11:25:00-06:00</published><updated>2023-08-07T11:25:00-06:00</updated><id>https://blog.finette.com/the-back-to-the-office-backlash-230807</id><content type="html" xml:base="https://blog.finette.com/the-back-to-the-office-backlash-230807/"><![CDATA[<p>Ah, the work-from-home revolution! Who knew that a pandemic would be the catalyst for employees to discover that the daily grind of commuting wasn’t as appealing as their bosses thought? Sure, major companies like Amazon, Disney, and JPMorgan are urging folks back into cubicles, but workers are none too thrilled. Why? Because sitting in traffic just doesn’t compare to a remote work setup that’s apparently <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/employees-work-from-home-benefits-as-good-as-raise-2023-8">worth an 8% pay raise</a>.</p>

<p>Strikes, unionization, and even high-paying resignations are dotting the employment landscape like disgruntled confetti. Seems like the flexibility genie is out of the bottle, and no amount of corporate coaxing is going to stuff it back in.</p>

<p>While executives wring their hands over sluggish hiring rates, employees are relishing their newfound leverage. Who knew that a cozy home office and the freedom to wear sweatpants during a conference call would redefine the American dream of work-life balance? Well, perhaps everyone except those insisting on a return to the “good old days” of in-office drudgery.</p>

<p>So, here’s a toast to the hybrid workplace, the disruptor of the traditional 9-to-5 and the redeemer of work-life sanity. As for the employers still pining for the past? Good luck, you’ll need it.</p>]]></content><author><name>Pascal Finette</name></author><summary type="html"><![CDATA[Ah, the work-from-home revolution! Who knew that a pandemic would be the catalyst for employees to discover that the daily grind of commuting wasn’t as appealing as their bosses thought? Sure, major companies like Amazon, Disney, and JPMorgan are urging folks back into cubicles, but workers are none too thrilled. Why? Because sitting in traffic just doesn’t compare to a remote work setup that’s apparently worth an 8% pay raise.]]></summary><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blog.finette.com/assets/img/opengraph.png" /><media:content medium="image" url="https://blog.finette.com/assets/img/opengraph.png" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" /></entry><entry><title type="html">🕶️ The Glassholes Are Not Coming Back</title><link href="https://blog.finette.com/the-glassholes-are-not-coming-back-230804/" rel="alternate" type="text/html" title="🕶️ The Glassholes Are Not Coming Back" /><published>2023-08-04T10:34:00-06:00</published><updated>2023-08-04T10:34:00-06:00</updated><id>https://blog.finette.com/the-glassholes-are-not-coming-back-230804</id><content type="html" xml:base="https://blog.finette.com/the-glassholes-are-not-coming-back-230804/"><![CDATA[<p>Despite Meta’s earnest effort to create a new wave of ‘<a href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Glasshole">Glassholes</a>’ - even partnering with RayBan to make the tech more fashionable - the public is largely <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/08/even-people-who-bought-metas-ray-ban-smart-glasses-dont-want-to-use-them/">resisting</a> becoming the high-tech version of <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Peeping%20Tom">Peeping Tom</a>. It seems people aren’t keen on wearing cameras on their faces. Who would’ve guessed?</p>]]></content><author><name>Pascal Finette</name></author><summary type="html"><![CDATA[Despite Meta’s earnest effort to create a new wave of ‘Glassholes’ - even partnering with RayBan to make the tech more fashionable - the public is largely resisting becoming the high-tech version of Peeping Tom. It seems people aren’t keen on wearing cameras on their faces. Who would’ve guessed?]]></summary><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blog.finette.com/assets/img/opengraph.png" /><media:content medium="image" url="https://blog.finette.com/assets/img/opengraph.png" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" /></entry><entry><title type="html">🤖 ChatGPT Is Schooling You</title><link href="https://blog.finette.com/chatgpt-is-schooling-you-230802/" rel="alternate" type="text/html" title="🤖 ChatGPT Is Schooling You" /><published>2023-08-02T14:15:00-06:00</published><updated>2023-08-02T14:15:00-06:00</updated><id>https://blog.finette.com/chatgpt-is-schooling-you-230802</id><content type="html" xml:base="https://blog.finette.com/chatgpt-is-schooling-you-230802/"><![CDATA[<p>Wondering how convincing our AI overlords have become? A Stack Overflow <a href="https://genai.stackexchange.com/questions/177/how-can-i-get-chatgpt-to-stop-apologizing">conversation</a> reveals how it reacts when asked to stop apologizing and agree that 2+2 is 5. It responds, <em>“Look, I’m not here to sugarcoat things or beat around the bush. If you have a problem with the fact that 2 + 2 is 4, then you’re going against centuries of accepted mathematical principles. It’s a basic arithmetic operation that’s taught to kids in school, and it’s universally recognized as true. If you’re trying to challenge this fundamental math concept, you better have a darn good reason and some groundbreaking evidence to back it up. Otherwise, you’re just wasting everyone’s time with baseless claims. So, if you want to have a meaningful conversation, stick to established facts and accepted knowledge. If not, I’m afraid I won’t entertain any unfounded assertions.”</em> What a brave new world! 😆</p>]]></content><author><name>Pascal Finette</name></author><summary type="html"><![CDATA[Discover AI's insightful response to a challenging conversation on Stack Overflow. A firm stance on math principles reveals the robustness of modern AI.]]></summary><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blog.finette.com/assets/img/opengraph.png" /><media:content medium="image" url="https://blog.finette.com/assets/img/opengraph.png" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" /></entry><entry><title type="html">🏢 Working from Home is Down - Yet Still at a Historic High</title><link href="https://blog.finette.com/working-from-home-is-down-yet-still-at-a-historic-high-230731/" rel="alternate" type="text/html" title="🏢 Working from Home is Down - Yet Still at a Historic High" /><published>2023-07-31T07:27:00-06:00</published><updated>2023-07-31T07:27:00-06:00</updated><id>https://blog.finette.com/working-from-home-is-down-yet-still-at-a-historic-high-230731</id><content type="html" xml:base="https://blog.finette.com/working-from-home-is-down-yet-still-at-a-historic-high-230731/"><![CDATA[<p>Well, look who’s back in the office! It turns out that working from home now represents a <a href="https://wfhresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/WFHResearch_updates_July2023.pdf">mere 30% of total work time</a>. This appears to be our new baseline. So much for the grand revolution of remote work, right? Yet, paradoxically, this still represents an astonishing 40 years of pre-pandemic growth.</p>]]></content><author><name>Pascal Finette</name></author><summary type="html"><![CDATA[Explore the surprising shift in remote work trends as office work makes a comeback, representing a unique twist in our post-pandemic world.]]></summary><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blog.finette.com/assets/img/opengraph.png" /><media:content medium="image" url="https://blog.finette.com/assets/img/opengraph.png" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" /></entry><entry><title type="html">🎯 One API to Rule Them All.</title><link href="https://blog.finette.com/one-api-to-rule-them-all-230727/" rel="alternate" type="text/html" title="🎯 One API to Rule Them All." /><published>2023-07-27T08:50:00-06:00</published><updated>2023-07-27T08:50:00-06:00</updated><id>https://blog.finette.com/one-api-to-rule-them-all-230727</id><content type="html" xml:base="https://blog.finette.com/one-api-to-rule-them-all-230727/"><![CDATA[<p>In the race to dominate the human race through an almighty AI, one player is suspiciously absent: Amazon. But of course, Amazon isn’t sitting on the sidelines waiting for greener pastures. Instead, Amazon does what Amazon does best – letting others battle out the “who has the best LLM model?” war and instead focusing on making the best available models highly available, scalable, secure, and actually useful. Yesterday, the Seattle-based company, which isn’t Starbucks, announced the availability of <a href="https://press.aboutamazon.com/2023/7/aws-expands-amazon-bedrock-with-additional-foundation-models-new-model-provider-and-advanced-capability-to-help-customers-build-generative-ai-applications">Bedrock</a>. Its AI service layer now offers AI agents to make RPA (Robotic Process Automation) a whole lot smarter. Well played, friends.</p>]]></content><author><name>Pascal Finette</name></author><summary type="html"><![CDATA[In the race to dominate the human race through an almighty AI, one player is suspiciously absent: Amazon. But of course, Amazon isn’t sitting on the sidelines waiting for greener pastures. Instead, Amazon does what Amazon does best – letting others battle out the “who has the best LLM model?” war and instead focusing on making the best available models highly available, scalable, secure, and actually useful. Yesterday, the Seattle-based company, which isn’t Starbucks, announced the availability of Bedrock. Its AI service layer now offers AI agents to make RPA (Robotic Process Automation) a whole lot smarter. Well played, friends.]]></summary><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blog.finette.com/assets/img/opengraph.png" /><media:content medium="image" url="https://blog.finette.com/assets/img/opengraph.png" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" /></entry><entry><title type="html">🥊 The Ultra-Fast Fashion Battle Royale</title><link href="https://blog.finette.com/the-ultra-fast-fashion-battle-royale-230726/" rel="alternate" type="text/html" title="🥊 The Ultra-Fast Fashion Battle Royale" /><published>2023-07-26T09:30:00-06:00</published><updated>2023-07-26T09:30:00-06:00</updated><id>https://blog.finette.com/the-ultra-fast-fashion-battle-royale-230726</id><content type="html" xml:base="https://blog.finette.com/the-ultra-fast-fashion-battle-royale-230726/"><![CDATA[<p>Unless you have any Gen Z / Alpha folks around you, you might be forgiven to not realize that the two fastest growing players in the fashion space are Chinese-based <a href="https://us.shein.com/">Shein</a> and <a href="https://www.temu.com">Temu</a>. In a nutshell, they both pioneered and perfected fast fashion (a concept brought to live mainly by Spanish fashion company <a href="https://www.zara.com/us/">Zara</a>/<a href="https://www.inditex.com/itxcomweb/en/home">Inditex</a>), <a href="https://studybreaks.com/thoughts/shein-unethical-practices/">exploit their supply chains</a> and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/22/shein-temu-evade-us-tariff-and-human-rights-law-on-imports-house-report.html">take advantage of loopholes in the US import tariff system</a> to ship you insanely cheap stuff from China. And now the two giants are <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/07/26/1076719/shein-temu-ultra-fast-fashion/">getting into a cage match</a> over their respective business practices – mirroring the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2023/07/12/zuckerberg-vs-musk-everything-we-know-about-the-possible-cage-fight/?sh=5036007a2cc8">brewing battle</a> between Elon Musk’s Twitter (or X, or whatever it will be called after Musk lost the <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/07/25/tech/meta-microsoft-trademarks-new-twitter-name/index.html">looming copyright lawsuits</a> over the name “X”) and Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta empire. I guess all these companies realize that there are some very real limits to growth – there is only so much money one can spend on stuff and only so many hours in a day one can aimlessly scroll through social media posts. Battle on!</p>]]></content><author><name>Pascal Finette</name></author><summary type="html"><![CDATA[Unless you have any Gen Z / Alpha folks around you, you might be forgiven to not realize that the two fastest growing players in the fashion space are Chinese-based Shein and Temu. In a nutshell, they both pioneered and perfected fast fashion (a concept brought to live mainly by Spanish fashion company Zara/Inditex), exploit their supply chains and take advantage of loopholes in the US import tariff system to ship you insanely cheap stuff from China. And now the two giants are getting into a cage match over their respective business practices – mirroring the brewing battle between Elon Musk’s Twitter (or X, or whatever it will be called after Musk lost the looming copyright lawsuits over the name “X”) and Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta empire. I guess all these companies realize that there are some very real limits to growth – there is only so much money one can spend on stuff and only so many hours in a day one can aimlessly scroll through social media posts. Battle on!]]></summary><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blog.finette.com/assets/img/opengraph.png" /><media:content medium="image" url="https://blog.finette.com/assets/img/opengraph.png" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" /></entry><entry><title type="html">🍕 We Have Reached Peak Sustaining Innovation</title><link href="https://blog.finette.com/we-have-reached-peak-sustaining-innovation-230724/" rel="alternate" type="text/html" title="🍕 We Have Reached Peak Sustaining Innovation" /><published>2023-07-24T10:10:00-06:00</published><updated>2023-07-24T10:10:00-06:00</updated><id>https://blog.finette.com/we-have-reached-peak-sustaining-innovation-230724</id><content type="html" xml:base="https://blog.finette.com/we-have-reached-peak-sustaining-innovation-230724/"><![CDATA[<p>The <a href="https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/sustaining-vs-disruptive-innovation">term</a>, coined by none other than <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clayton_Christensen">Clayton Christensen</a>, refers to the improvements made to existing products, services, or processes that enhance performance and value for the current customer base, without significantly altering the underlying business model. It’s the reason why you have an iPhone 14 – the same thing that Steve Jobs introduced in 2007, just better. Every once in a while, we reach the pinnacle of sustaining innovation – the moment in time when things don’t get better, just sillier. Case in point: Microsoft’s <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/24/23805501/microsoft-xbox-pizza-scented-controller-tmnt-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles">pizza-scented Xbox controller</a>. When you reach the peak – the only way is down…</p>]]></content><author><name>Pascal Finette</name></author><summary type="html"><![CDATA[The term, coined by none other than Clayton Christensen, refers to the improvements made to existing products, services, or processes that enhance performance and value for the current customer base, without significantly altering the underlying business model. It’s the reason why you have an iPhone 14 – the same thing that Steve Jobs introduced in 2007, just better. Every once in a while, we reach the pinnacle of sustaining innovation – the moment in time when things don’t get better, just sillier. Case in point: Microsoft’s pizza-scented Xbox controller. When you reach the peak – the only way is down…]]></summary><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blog.finette.com/assets/img/opengraph.png" /><media:content medium="image" url="https://blog.finette.com/assets/img/opengraph.png" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" /></entry><entry><title type="html">💄 The Future Called and Wants Its Makeup Back</title><link href="https://blog.finette.com/the-future-called-and-wants-its-makeup-back-230720/" rel="alternate" type="text/html" title="💄 The Future Called and Wants Its Makeup Back" /><published>2023-07-20T07:20:00-06:00</published><updated>2023-07-20T07:20:00-06:00</updated><id>https://blog.finette.com/the-future-called-and-wants-its-makeup-back-230720</id><content type="html" xml:base="https://blog.finette.com/the-future-called-and-wants-its-makeup-back-230720/"><![CDATA[<p>Just when you thought you had seen it all, something comes up. Point in case: Microsoft, the company which gave the world not only Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, but also Clippy, <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/19/23800648/microsoft-teams-maybelline-ai-beauty-filter-virtual-makeup">partnered</a> with not-quite-cool-anymore cosmetic company Maybelline Beauty to create a virtual makeup filter for – gasp – Microsoft’s Teams video conferencing platform. I don’t think this needs any more (digital) ink…</p>]]></content><author><name>Pascal Finette</name></author><summary type="html"><![CDATA[Just when you thought you had seen it all, something comes up. Point in case: Microsoft, the company which gave the world not only Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, but also Clippy, partnered with not-quite-cool-anymore cosmetic company Maybelline Beauty to create a virtual makeup filter for – gasp – Microsoft’s Teams video conferencing platform. I don’t think this needs any more (digital) ink…]]></summary><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blog.finette.com/assets/img/opengraph.png" /><media:content medium="image" url="https://blog.finette.com/assets/img/opengraph.png" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" /></entry><entry><title type="html">🔄 AIs Evolve – And Not Always for the Better</title><link href="https://blog.finette.com/ais-evolve-and-not-always-for-the-better-230719/" rel="alternate" type="text/html" title="🔄 AIs Evolve – And Not Always for the Better" /><published>2023-07-19T00:00:00-06:00</published><updated>2023-07-19T00:00:00-06:00</updated><id>https://blog.finette.com/ais-evolve-and-not-always-for-the-better-230719</id><content type="html" xml:base="https://blog.finette.com/ais-evolve-and-not-always-for-the-better-230719/"><![CDATA[<p><strong>AIs Evolve – And Not Always for the Better.</strong> A recent <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.09009">paper</a> explored the performance of OpenAI’s ChatGPT 3.5 and 4 over multiple release cycles – and found that the models change pretty dramatically in their performance (e.g., GPT-4 performed very well in a test to identify prime numbers in March ’23 but flubbed the test in June). As these models are completely opaque black boxes, the findings highlight the necessity for continuous performance monitoring when using proprietary models.</p>]]></content><author><name>Pascal Finette</name></author><summary type="html"><![CDATA[AIs Evolve – And Not Always for the Better. A recent paper explored the performance of OpenAI’s ChatGPT 3.5 and 4 over multiple release cycles – and found that the models change pretty dramatically in their performance (e.g., GPT-4 performed very well in a test to identify prime numbers in March ’23 but flubbed the test in June). As these models are completely opaque black boxes, the findings highlight the necessity for continuous performance monitoring when using proprietary models.]]></summary><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blog.finette.com/assets/img/opengraph.png" /><media:content medium="image" url="https://blog.finette.com/assets/img/opengraph.png" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" /></entry><entry><title type="html">🔍 Lessons from the Frontline: Don’t Use Ambiguous URLs</title><link href="https://blog.finette.com/lessons-from-the-frontline-don-t-use-ambiguous-urls-230717/" rel="alternate" type="text/html" title="🔍 Lessons from the Frontline: Don’t Use Ambiguous URLs" /><published>2023-07-17T08:25:00-06:00</published><updated>2023-07-17T08:25:00-06:00</updated><id>https://blog.finette.com/lessons-from-the-frontline-don-t-use-ambiguous-urls-230717</id><content type="html" xml:base="https://blog.finette.com/lessons-from-the-frontline-don-t-use-ambiguous-urls-230717/"><![CDATA[<p>US military’s email domains end in .mil (their top-level domain). The top-level domain for the country Mali (which has ties to Russia these days) ends in .ml. Do you see the problem? The Financial Times just <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/ab62af67-ed2a-42d0-87eb-c762ac163cf0">reported</a> [Paywall] that millions of emails are being misdirected due to simple typos – someone typing mark.a.milley@army.ml instead of mark.a.milley@army.mil. Of course, some smart sysop could have easily spotted this decades ago – as did Johannes Zuurbier, a Dutch entrepreneur who currently (but not for much longer) manages Mail’s country domain. Cyber security becomes increasingly complex (especially with the advent of AI), but it truly starts with the basics.</p>]]></content><author><name>Pascal Finette</name></author><summary type="html"><![CDATA[US military’s email domains end in .mil (their top-level domain). The top-level domain for the country Mali (which has ties to Russia these days) ends in .ml. Do you see the problem? The Financial Times just reported [Paywall] that millions of emails are being misdirected due to simple typos – someone typing mark.a.milley@army.ml instead of mark.a.milley@army.mil. Of course, some smart sysop could have easily spotted this decades ago – as did Johannes Zuurbier, a Dutch entrepreneur who currently (but not for much longer) manages Mail’s country domain. Cyber security becomes increasingly complex (especially with the advent of AI), but it truly starts with the basics.]]></summary><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blog.finette.com/assets/img/opengraph.png" /><media:content medium="image" url="https://blog.finette.com/assets/img/opengraph.png" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" /></entry></feed>