Newsletter 55: Why paying people by the hour is the most pervasive and perverse trend in business. Plus the Hugos reject automated entries, JD Vance gets rich off his VP nod, Ingram bans a book about AI in publishing, three people to follow and three books to read. Nobody smart or skilled should work by…
If you’re a good writer, you should edit others. And if you’re an editor, you should write your own pieces. It’s not just a way to give back. It’s a way to expand your skills and your perspective. Why writers should edit If you love writing, do some editing. Work with others who are writing…
Virtually everything travel-related stopped working this morning, including all flights on United, American, and Delta Air Lines. A cybersecurity researcher called it “The largest IT outage in history.” The outage also crippled hospitals and emergency services. CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity company’s whose products are used by many large companies, was apparently to blame. It sent out…
A well-designed searchable set of answers is a great resource for customer service. But if your “FAQ” is actually a huge, rotting pile of crap, you do a disservice to customers by sending them there. A little context. My home has a Sub-Zero refrigerator/freezer. It came with the house. And as I learned from the…
OpenAI says it has proof that it didn’t steal Scarlett Johansson’s voice. Does that make it an honest company? OpenAI defends its actions Scarlett Johansson claimed OpenAI solicited her to train its latest AI, then released a voice called “Sky” that sounded just like her. Open AI says no, they didn’t use her voice, and…
I’ve been studying the economic intersection of capitalism and addiction. It is a highly profitable and always a sordid business. A recent history of businesses based on addiction For a recent book project, I looked into what the tobacco companies did in the 20th century. We all know today that nicotine is addictive and cigarettes…
Two regulatory rulings yesterday revealed just what happens when companies go too far in self-serving policies — specifically, employers with non-competes and airlines cancelling flights. The FTC cancels employer noncompete agreements After a review period, the Federal Trade Commission has now banned companies from enforcing noncompete agreements (gift link). Noncompetes prevent employees from working for…
I recently received a query to see if I, as a ghostwriter, could help with some freelance work. Here’s how the query read (I’ve made minor edits to conceal the requester’s identity): Is this a ghostwriter? No. I’ve spent quite a lot of time this year with ghostwriters. Ghostwriters’ primary job is, of course, writing….
Will your future employer treat you like a slave with no personal time? If William Vanderbloemen is recruiting you, that might be a clue. According to Business Insider, Vanderbloemen has devised a few little tests before and after job interviews to see how candidates behave: Vanderbloemen’s company uses the text-message test [sending candidates a text…