Today, we’re talking about work. Specifically, where we work, how our expectations of working remotely were radically changed by the covid-19 pandemic, and how those expectations feel like they’re on the verge of changing yet again. For many people, the pendulum has swung wildly between working fully remote and now a push to return to the office from their bosses, and there are a lot of theories about what might be motivating big companies to try and bring everyone back.
Technology
Gamer role introduced in children’s hospital
A Scottish children’s hospital charity has introduced a gamer in residence for young patients in Glasgow.
The new job involves visiting children to play video games with them, preventing boredom and providing some light relief.
Steven Mair, who was appointed by the Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity, says gaming has already provided huge benefits to the patients.
He said that playing Mario Kart has improved the mobility of a patient’s hand and that it was also a useful tool in distracting the children during medical procedures.
“One of my first sessions here at the hospital was a patient who was on a plasma exchange and that can be quite intrusive”, he added.
“When I went in to play with that patient, it kept him distracted throughout the whole procedure.”
Josephine, the mum of eight-year-old Laura Jayne, said her daughter had been in hospital for six months.
She said: “It’s been really good just to pass the time. Sometimes it helps her to interact with the gamers. She really gets a lot out of it.”
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Here on Decoder, I’ve talked to lots of CEOs about the benefits of working fully remote versus hybrid or having everybody back in the office over the past several years, and I’ve heard the full spectrum of responses. Some executives are adamant that people need to be in the office, and others are equally adamant that fully remote is the way to go. We’ll play some of those answers for you as we go so you can get a sense of the enormous range of opinions here.
If you look at the surveys, it’s basically 50/50 — quite a lot of people want to work remotely, and they can be pretty loud online. But there are a lot of people, who are often quieter, who want to go back to the office for pretty good reasons. Some folks just don’t have the space to work from home, or they’re simply tired of making video calls in sweatpants all day and never really leaving the house. I know some people who really like just being able to leave work at the office when they head home for the day, and I’ve heard from a lot of younger people who are struggling to get face time with the more senior and experienced people at their companies in order to build relationships and grow their networks.
The messy middle of all this is what quite a few companies have settled on: hybrid work, which allows for a combination of in-office and remote work. This is how The Verge runs, and I quite like it — but it’s not perfect. Like so many people who work in a hybrid environment, there are days where I go into a mostly empty office and then sit on Zoom in a phone booth, and there are days when I realize I’m the only one in a meeting sitting at home because everyone else has gone into the office.
Figuring out how to make hybrid work is a long-term cultural project that we really only started in 2020. While there are some obvious benefits, it’s not clear if anyone’s really cracked it in a way that scales across different kinds of companies.
Now, some companies have decided the nuance just isn’t worth it. In September, Amazon mandated that all employees would return to an office five days a week starting in January. In the memo announcing the change, CEO Andy Jassy argued that the company had “observed that it’s easier to learn, model, practice, and strengthen our culture,” that “collaborating, brainstorming, and inventing are simpler and more effective,” and that “teams tend to be better connected to one another” when everyone is in the office.
Amazon isn’t alone in wanting employees back at their desks. Companies like Disney and Salesforce have also pushed for employees to come back to the office at least four days a week, making similar arguments. Other companies, like Apple, have been steadily pressuring workers to come back for quite some time — that beautiful new spaceship office in Cupertino wasn’t built to stay empty.
But is the return to office really about building company culture and being more creative and productive? I have to tell you, there is a huge chunk of The Verge and Decoder audience that is absolutely convinced that any big return-to-office policy change is actually just a layoff in disguise — we get emails making this case virtually every time one of these moves is announced.
Jassy even addressed this directly, just a few days ago, in an all-hands meeting. Responding to claims that the return-to-work mandate is a quote “backdoor layoff,” he told employees that that is simply not true. We’ll come back to that later on.
So I wanted to know what’s been going on, what the real reasons behind return-to-office might be, and where this is all headed next. To explain it, I caught up with two experts on the subject: Stephan Meier, a professor of business strategy at Columbia Business School, and Jessica Kriegel, the chief strategy officer at workplace culture consultancy Culture Partners.
We dive into what’s been happening to the nature of work today, and you’ll hear both of them lay out some of the key reasons behind the return-to-office push. We also try to figure out whether Amazon is just an outlier or, as you’ll hear Jessica say, “the tip of the spear” in what could be something much bigger.
Here are some of the news stories, surveys, and studies we discussed in this episode, if you’d like to learn more:
- Amazon is making its employees come back to the office five days a week | The Verge
- Amazon CEO Andy Jassy denies that 5-day office mandate is a ‘backdoor layoff’ | CNBC
- Bob Iger tells Disney employees they must return to the office four days a week | CNBC
- A quarter of bosses admit return-to-office mandates meant to make staff quit | Fortune
- More Americans now prefer hybrid over fully remote work, survey finds | Axios
- Google tells staff: stay productive and we’ll stay flexible | Business Insider
- The list of major companies requiring employees to return to the office | Business Insider
- Thinking Inside the Box: Why Virtual Meetings Generate Fewer Ideas | Columbia
- Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn wants you addicted to learning | Decoder
- The CEO of Zoom wants AI clones in meetings | Decoder
- Sundar Pichai on managing Google through the pandemic | The Vergecast
Today, digital commerce is a primary business driver for retailers, brands, and distributors. According to an analysis of US Census Bureau data by research firm Stratably, 2024 revenue from digital is projected to grow 8.4% in the U.S. market compared to in-store growth of 1.2%.
As digital commerce has grown in importance there has been a corresponding explosion of downstream channels where brand manufacturers must send content, from retail stores to marketplaces to social shopping and direct-to-consumer websites. Each of these channels has distinct rules for the product data they will accept and these rules change often; Target, Walmart and Amazon changed their data ingestion requirements nearly 1,000 times combined in 2023. The reasons for these changes vary: differing regional regulatory requirements, unique merchandising opportunities the channel requires, or varying rates of digital maturity between the channels.
These constant changes make it exceedingly difficult for business teams to keep their data organized and optimized for each destination. It’s equally difficult for IT teams to maintain data governance and traceability of the enterprise’s product data as its sent so frequently to so many different channels. To achieve success, many organizations use a Product Information Management (PIM) system to centralize and store product data, but the architecture of a classic stand-alone PIM solution isn’t designed to support digital commerce. In fact, it may impede success.
Product experience management (PXM) solutions, on the other hand, were built for digital commerce and are already seeing widespread adoption by brands, retailers, and distributors looking to centralize, connect, and automate the product data that powers digital, omnichannel commerce.
How do PIM and PXM solutions compare, and which is best enabled to help your team win in digital commerce?
Features of a Classic PIM
Classic PIMs were created to manage internal data against an internal data schema. IT teams define the schema’s attributes and properties across relational databases, cleanse their data, and then load that data into the PIM to create a single “golden record” for each product.
Key Classic PIM use cases include:
The “Golden Record”: The PIM category emerged when the critical need for IT leaders was to centralize disparate product information, creating a single “golden record” for each product via relational databases based on an internal data schema. However, the golden record has lost relevance as business teams must now store, manage, optimize, and deliver hundreds or even thousands of continually optimizable golden records based on external schemas and requirements. Failing to do so could result in product data never being published, lost search rank and ultimately, and lost sales.
Rigid Data Management: Classic PIMs effectively aim to prevent changes once the data has been entered into the predetermined schema, creating a rigid data management process that makes it both difficult and expensive to update data; business teams rarely have access to change any of the data or attributes in the PIM and doing so requires going through IT or a third party PIM vendor. However, with endpoints changing their requirements so frequently, a system that will enable success in commerce must actively enable, not prevent, revisions to data as business teams optimize product information for delivery to each endpoint.
The PXM Use Case
PXMs are a blend of PIM back-office data management functionality with front-office, market-facing capability. They incorporate PIM features like hierarchy, taxonomy, and governance while adding on additional major capability areas to support digital commerce, including:
Multichannel data management: Management of channel-specific data schemas, values, and validation, allowing users to store a golden record while simultaneously storing versions of the product record that meet the requirements of each data destination.
Channel connectivity: Connectivity to channel destinations, such as Amazon and Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN), to get information to market faster, often via different mechanisms tailored to each destination.
Collaborative workflows: Workflows that typically involve people in other businesses, such as third-party agencies, distribution partners, or downstream retail customers.
Enhanced content: More types of data and attributes, including assets to support content like videos, comparison charts, and lifestyle imagery.
Enterprise-wide user access: Administrative features to enable many users to access and use the product data for their own workstreams (e.g., legal, retail media, service, and support teams).
Automation: Automation to drive cross-team collaboration; proactive alerts about content gaps and errors; AI-driven content generation and recommendations; and more.
PXM solutions were designed to be a flexible (not rigid) system of record that can store a core product record just like a PIM, while still allowing transformations of that record to meet each endpoint’s unique requirements. These key features of PXMs allow teams to collaborate to keep up with the pace of digital commerce, driving success for their organizations.
An Expansion of the PIM Category
PXM solutions were initially worse at product information management than PIM solutions but better at syndication, connecting product information to various destinations on the digital shelf to drive sales for the enterprise.
Today, PXM solutions actually provide better data management than classic PIM solutions. They’re designed to create and manage the golden record, which is the primary goal of a PIM solution, and connect this information to the digital shelf to drive enterprise sales — all while maintaining adaptability to constantly changing market requirements.
PXM solutions can do everything PIM solutions can, but PIM solutions can’t do everything PXM solutions can. This represents a fundamental expansion of the definition of the product information management category, which has created a new category altogether.
PIM for commerce will cease to exist
The product information management category is one in transition, with PXM solutions driving a fundamental expansion of the basic use case for systems that store product information.
Anyone buying a classic PIM solution for commerce will have to either replace it or add a PXM solution sooner rather than later and eventually, PIM-only software solutions will become obsolete.
On the other hand, innovation and investment in PXM is advancing rapidly. It’s an exciting space that will continue revolutionizing shopper experiences to drive significant value to the enterprise.
We’ve featured the best e-commerce platform.
This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro’s Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro
Apple this week released the latest developer beta of tvOS 18.2, the software that powers the company’s Apple TV 4K streaming media devices. As previewed during the WWDC 2024 keynote, the new software includes support for 21:9 and several other aspect ratios that are wider than 16:9, which has become the dominant shape for modern TVs.
Why does that matter?
Most of us have experienced letterboxing or pillarboxing — that’s when a set of horizontal or vertical black bars frame the content on our TVs. It happens when there’s a mismatch between the aspect ratio of a movie or show and the aspect ratio of your screen.
A lot of modern content, especially shows and movies developed for streaming services like Netflix, Max, Paramount+, or Apple TV+, is shot in 16:9, so letterboxing that content on 16:9 TVs isn’t necessary. On the Apple TV 4K, even the user interface is formatted for this ratio, which keeps things looking good.
However, some folks own projector screens or widescreen monitors with non-16:9 aspect ratios. For these people, all Apple TV 4K content ends up with those pesky black bars because the device’s signal is formatted for 16:9. When tvOS 18.2 arrives for everyone in December, the software should automatically detect the ratio of your display, and reformat itself to match.
If that detection fails, a new Aspect Ratio settings menu will let you manually select the appropriate one for your setup. Available ratios are 16:9, 21:9, 2.37:1, 2.39:1, 2.40:1, DCI 4K, and 32:9.
It will be the first time that someone who owns a 21:9 projector, or who uses an anamorphic lens to achieve a ratio like 2.39:1, can get the Apple TV 4K to produce a perfectly proportioned and fullscreen image.
So how many people will benefit from the new settings? “It really won’t affect very many,” said Jeff Gosselin, chief experience officer at Cloud 9 AV, a Toronto-based custom home theater installer. “Any new theaters we have done in the past 15 years have all used 16:9 screens. For any ultrawide projection systems, this will be an enhanced viewing experience.”
Pillarboxing will still likely occur when watching 16:9 content on such a screen, but when 21:9 content is available, it should play in fullscreen, with no black bars.
Presumably, app developers — like the services mentioned above — will have to update their apps to ensure that their content displays correctly under the new aspect ratio settings. But eventually, this will become the norm.
Science & Environment
Trump’s victory could disrupt energy sector. These stocks are likely winners and losers
Recently, 91mobiles spotted the Motorola Razr 50s Ultra on two certification platforms—Wireless Power Consortium and SGS Fimko Testing & Certification Services.
Motorola launched the Motorola Razr (2024) (review) and Motorola Razr Motorola Razr+ (2024) in the US back in June this year. The models are called the Motorola Razr 50 and Motorola Razr 50 Ultra respectively outside the States. However, the company also appears to be working on two more devices under the Razr 50 series – the Motorola Razr 50s and Motorola Razr 50s Ultra. The Motorola Razr 50s previously appeared on Geekbench with a single and multi-core score of 1040 and 3003 respectively.
Motorola Razr 50s Ultra design and specifications
In the latest news, the Motorola Razr 50s Ultra has appeared on the Wireless Power Consortium with model number XT2451-6. In terms of design, the Motorola Razr 50s Ultra closely resembles the Razr 50 Ultra, featuring a rounded middle frame and a large external display with two distinct cutouts for the rear camera setup.
The inner display features a center-positioned punch-hole cutout for the selfie camera and narrow bezels. This is similar to those on other models in the Razr 50 series. The volume rocker and power button are located on the right edge, with the SIM tray on the left side—similar to the existing models. At the bottom, there’s a USB Type-C port, speaker vents, and a microphone opening.
The bottom portion appears to have a leather finish and houses the iconic Razr branding.
According to the listing, the maximum load power this device can utilize is ‘15.0,’ which hints at 15W charging support. For context, the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra supports 45W wired charging and 15W wireless charging. In contrast, the standard Razr 50 supports slightly slower 30W wired charging, along with 15W wireless charging support.
The Motorola Razr 50s Ultra could come with a total of six variants
The SGS Fimko Testing & Certification Services listing for the phone reveals a total of six variants for this device: XT2451-1, XT2451-2, XT2451-3, XT2451-4, XT2451-5, and XT2451-6.
Additionally, the ‘Technical data’ and ‘Specific characteristics’ sections list ’11V 4A’, suggesting support for 44W fast charging. This implies that the ‘15.0’ notation on the Wireless Power Consortium listing likely refers to 15W wireless charging support, while the device still offers faster speeds, up to 44W, with wired charging similar to other models in the lineup.
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