Technologies

What CES 2023 Showed Me About the Future of Work

New laptops and accessories at CES could help a metaverse-based hybrid work environment make more sense.

Walking the halls of CES 2023, a lot feels the same as ever. Packed spaces, big TVs, lots of new laptops. But in the three years since I was last here in person, a lot has changed, and I’d argue some of the biggest and most consequential changes are to how we work.

It may take a little digging under the surface, but this year’s CES show has a lot to say about the great shift toward hybrid and remote work, in everything from better video conference tools to attempts at building a metaverse-infused, mixed-reality workspace.

Meetings in the metaverse

The metaverse office concept, at least according to one definition, is a shared collaborative space where one can participate via several means: virtual or augmented reality, 3D displays, standard laptop, tablet and phone screens; or in-person through things like smart whiteboards that work across all these different experiences.

Dell has become a leader in showing off concept pieces and prototypes during CES, and this year, its Concept Nyx (the same name Dell uses for gaming prototypes) tackles that version of the metaverse head on. At a pre-CES preview, I was able to participate in a faux meeting by creating a 3D avatar for others to see, and also by sitting in front of an autostereoscopic display (allowing you to see in 3D without special glasses) that gave me a 3D view of a project. After that, I donned a VR headset to feel like I (or my avatar) was actually in that shared space and writing on a whiteboard with my VR controller. And after that, I was able to use a slate-style tablet to interact with the real-world version of that same whiteboard, but without wearing a headset.

None of this is close to being a shipping product anytime soon, and like many things at and around CES, the hardware is carefully labeled as «conceptual.» Of that batch of products and experiences, the oversize, glasses-free 3D display, using eye-tracking hardware to make the 3D image actually look decent, seemed like the part with the most workplace potential.

Gamers go first

Much new PC technology is driven first by the gaming audience, which has a tolerance for gear that can be both expensive and experimental. That’s why ideas like VR and autostereoscopic 3D often show up in gaming hardware first, before moving into more practical products for your nongaming hours.

For example, this CES saw several new 18-inch gaming laptops, a screen size that’s been virtually extinct since the early 2010s. The first of these bigger screens are in gaming laptops from Dell, Razer, Asus and Acer, but there’s obvious crossover appeal for hybrid and remote workers who want the flexibility of a laptop but with a larger screen that feels more desktop-like. Razer laptops, with their minimalist styling, are especially popular with gamers and creative pros alike. I would not be surprised to see more professionally pitched laptops eventually grow into that new 18-inch size.

Asus also leaned into glasses-free 3D with its new ProArt Studiobook and Vivobook Pro laptops. Both, similar to Dell’s display prototype, use eye tracking to make 3D viable. And those devices are aimed at artists and designers, not gamers. Acer also has a similar eye-tracking 3D laptop aimed at gamers, called the Predator Helios 300, as well as a professional display from 2022 called the Acer SpatialLabs View with that same technology.

Laptops with glasses-free 3D were first tried back in 2012 and never made it to a second generation. The eye tracking in these new versions, however, makes the experience miles better.

More, and different, screens

Other experiments, like Lenovo’s twin-OLED-screen Yoga Book 9i and color E Ink/OLED combo, the ThinkBook Plus Twist, might eventually offer some new features that will bleed into more staid work laptops, but it’s far from a sure thing. That said, new E Ink devices like the 10.3-inch Yoga Paper could have more practical work applications, and I only say that because I’ve been using a similar-feeling new Amazon Kindle Scribe while walking the floor at CES 2023 to great effect.

The most welcome trend in both consumer and commercial laptops from the past two years continues unabated, I’m pleased to say. Nearly every new laptop we saw defaulted to a full-HD 1,080-resolution webcam, rather than the wimpy low-res versions that were common prepandemic.

Even better, it’s considered such a standard feature that PC makers hardly feel the need to call it out anymore. It was way too long in coming, and low-res webcams made that first year of remote work in 2020 more difficult than it needed to be for many. But now that we’ve normalized the hybrid workplace and accept video meetings as equal to in-person ones, I’d call it one of those subtle but important changes to how we work that’s making life just a little bit easier.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Saturday, April 18

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for April 18

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? It’s the super-long one as always on Saturdays, and a few of the clues are tricky. But if you play all the other New York Times games, 13-Across will be easy. Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: What people pay Extra for?
Answer: GUM

4A clue: Pre-meal prayer
Answer: GRACE

6A clue: Physicist Bohr
Answer: NIELS

7A clue: Line up a shot
Answer: AIM

8A clue: Photo ___ (P.R. events)
Answer: OPS

10A clue: «Zootopia,» but not «Zoolander»
Answer: PGMOVIE

12A clue: TV show with the initials «TV»
Answer: THEVIEW

13A clue: New York Times game with weaving, interconnected answers
Answer: STRANDS

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: More bleak
Answer: GRIMMER

2D clue: Dubai’s country, for short
Answer: UAE

3D clue: Nickname of Seth and Evan’s friend in «Superbad»
Answer: MCLOVIN

4D clue: «See you in the mornin’!»
Answer: GNIGHT

5D clue: Fancy term for «noticed»
Answer: ESPIED

7D clue: Many N.Y.C. addresses: Abbr.
Answer: APTS

9D clue: Uses a needle and thread
Answer: SEWS

11D clue: Egg cells
Answer: OVA

Technologies

AI Trusted Less Than Social Media and Airlines, With Grok Placing Last, Survey Says

More Americans are concerned about the loss of personal interaction from AI than they are about potential job loss.

Google Gemini is the most trusted AI platform among its competition, but many people still have concerns about the technology, according to an American Customer Satisfaction Index poll released Thursday.

In ACSI’s results, AI scored an overall customer satisfaction score of 73 on a scale of 0 to 100, which the authors noted was slightly below social media (74), airlines and mortgage lenders, but in line with energy utilities.

Of the five platforms mentioned in the survey, Google Gemini led with 76, followed by Microsoft Copilot (74), Claude and ChatGPT (both 73), and Grok and Perplexity (both 71). Meanwhile, TikTok (77) and YouTube (78) both scored better than the AI platforms.

Gemini is one of the most prolific AI services, with access via smart speakers, TVs, phones and computers, while most ChatGPT users access the AI tool via the ChatGPT website or mobile app, and Grok via social media platform X.

The ACSI poll found that 43% of respondents said reduced human-to-human interaction is their main concern, followed by job loss for future generations (37%) and their own job risk (31%), based on interviews with 2,711 US adults.

Baby Boomers were the most skeptical generation in the poll, with 35% saying they are very concerned about AI’s effects, compared to just 6% who view it extremely favorably.

Disconnect between AI adoption and perception

While platforms such as ChatGPT have up to 1 billion weekly users, there is still a disconnect between AI’s adoption and public perception of it, which is driven by concerns over privacy, the spread of misinformation and the loss of jobs.

«Consumers spent the last decade learning to distrust how social media platforms handle their data, and AI’s privacy scores suggest they’re carrying that skepticism forward,» said Forrest Morgeson, associate professor of marketing at Michigan State University and director of research emeritus at the ACSI.

21% reported an «extremely favorable» outlook toward AI, while an equal 21% said they are «very concerned about the consequences.»

These results were in line with another poll published by YouGov this week, which found that only 29% think the positive effects of AI outweigh the negative ones, while 36% think its net effects are negative.

It’s worth noting that more than half of the people interviewed (56%) had no recent experience with AI, but of the 44% who did, half of them use AI at least once a day, and the usage went up with people who earned over $100,000 a year.

Last month, an NBC poll suggested that AI was one of the least-liked things in America, but it was still more popular than the Democratic Party.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for April 18, #1042

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for April 18, No. 1,042.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle features a fun purple category that’ll require you to spot certain beverage names. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Wow!

Green group hint: Plug it in.

Blue group hint: Cinderella team.

Purple group hint: Drink up.