Welcome to another edition of Let's talk tech Thursday, the newsletter that laughs in the face of trading standards.

In this week's edition:

• Big tech argues with the government (surprise surprise), this time on the best way to handle the growing problem of phone theft,
• Entry-level jobs might never be the same again, as AI claws its way deeper into our work life,
• And Asus becomes one of the latest companies to join Microsoft in recommending Copilot+ laptops that you don't need.

Also, popular social-media-slash-news-aggregation website Reddit sues AI company Anthropic for stealing data, Blackberry finds a new lease of life (or at least, the keyboards do) in the world of open source hardware, and Microsoft is forced to stop bugging EU users about the benefits of Edge.

Let's dig in...

Top Stories

Apple and Google clash with police and MPs over phone thefts

Summary

With phone thefts on the rise, and increasingly being linked to violent crimes, Apple and Google are in conflict with UK police over how to handle the issue. The police want phone companies to block stolen devices using their unique IMEI numbers, but the tech firms are concerned about fraud and the impact on the second-hand parts market.

So what?

If you've ever had your phone stolen, rang your provider and then had your phone blocked, your next thought might well be "well if it's that easy to block it, why is phone theft even a thing? What are they, the thieves, getting out of this?"

It's a fair question. Your phone provider will have done something called an IMEI block, which is something that only the phone provider in conjunction with the police can undo. It's a lot of effort to go to for what has essentially become a fancy paperweight. (Do people still have paperweights...?)

So why do people keep stealing phones? Well for one thing, because the IMEI block isn't universal. In fact, IMEI blocks are actually only network specific. It's just that in the UK networks share their block lists with each other, so if you have your phone blocked by O2, they'll let Vodafone, Three, etc all know. But if that phone is taken abroad, all bets are off. That's why over three quarters of phones stolen in the UK end up out of the country.

Which brings us to the law vs big tech story. The police want Apple and Google to use the IMEI blacklist to identify phones and stop them from reconnecting to their services. With 99.6% of phones powered by either Apple's iOS or Google's Android, the thinking is that by stopping the phones working at an Operating System level, it will disable the phone globally and remove the incentive for theft.

Not bad logic, as far as UK law enforcement goes. But phone companies, or Apple at least, don't think it's worth pursuing. Instead, Apple are focusing on something called Activation Lock, which marks each of the components within the phone and links them to that owner's Apple ID. The logic here is that regardless of whether the phone is stolen and sold on, or chopped up for parts, the whole thing becomes useless.

Now, if I were being cynical, there is another benefit to this approach for Apple. Regular readers will know that the Right to Repair movement is gaining a lot of traction, with more laws being passed by the week. I for one am not surprised that, in the midst of this, Apple is working on a way to stop phones from working unless they have very specific components in the device. If Apple can link your battery to your Apple ID, then they can also know if your phone battery is replaced with a different (cheaper) version when you repair it.

I'm not saying that Activation Lock is a bad idea. It would certainly solve problems that IMEI blocking is currently not equipped to solve. But you better believe that isn't the only reason that Apple are developing it.

Will AI wipe out the first rung of the career ladder?

Summary

AI is changing the job market, especially for entry-level positions, which may face significant reductions. Executives predict that generative AI could eliminate many of these jobs and require new skills from workers. Companies might reformulate entry-level roles, demanding familiarity with AI and higher productivity standards.

So what?

We've spoken before about some of the jobs that AI is already taking. Up until now, most of the media coverage has been focused on individual companies. More and more though, we're starting to see the rhetoric shift to different bands of the working world. Specifically here, the article focuses on the entry-level roles that AI is currently better equipped to handle than some of the "more technical" roles. There is increasing evidence that these entry-level roles are either requiring an understanding of AI, or more likely that they are being replaced entirely by AI.

Aside from the obvious problem of fewer jobs to go round, there's another issue. If you're removing the bottom rung of the ladder, how is anyone going to be able to climb it? To be less metaphorical about it, most people in mid-level jobs developed their skills and became good at their jobs because they started out in entry-level positions. Where are tomorrow's experts going to come from, if today's novices are all being made redundant?

While the article seems encouraged by the idea that these entry-level roles will be reshaped into something new, I'm less sure. Organisations like Joseph Rowntree Foundation are finding that AI is exacerbating the digital divide, not shrinking it. Requiring AI skills as part of entry level roles doesn't feel like it's going to solve that.

And there's something else. I'm having more and more conversations with people who are having "AI-regret". These companies who have laid off staff because of the cost savings replacing their roles with AI was supposed to bring. But once they've realised that AI isn't the silver bullet they thought it would be, they're now having to rehire for those positions they'd made redundant. This isn't a mainstream issue yet, but what if it becomes one? What if we spend the next 5-10 years messing around with AI for junior and entry-level roles, and then realise it's a failed experiment. We'll have lost an entire generation of technical talent.

From the LT3 archive: The Hidden Cost of AI-Generated Code: We're Creating Tomorrow's Technical Debt Today

Can’t upgrade your laptop to Windows 11? Asus joins Microsoft’s campaign urging you to buy a new Copilot+ PC, and I’m not sure that’s wise

Summary

Asus is encouraging users with older Windows 10 laptops to buy new Copilot+ PCs, which may not be necessary. This push raises concerns about electronic waste as many PCs could be discarded due to Windows 11's strict requirements. Additionally, the marketing claims about the impressive capabilities of Copilot+ PCs may be overstated, as the technology is still developing.

So what?

Microsoft is ending it's Windows 10 support later this year. With an estimated 53% of computers running Windows 10 worldwide, this is a big problem for millions of users. Because Windows 11 has a minimum hardware specification, countless people will have to replace their devices entirely in order to keep running Windows. Massive incoming e-waste problem aside (and that really isn't something to just ignore), we're also seeing companies jump on the bandwagon to oversell the upgrades.

Asus seem to be the latest in this, with marketing campaigns strongly recommending people buy a new Copilot+ capable device. These laptops and PCs tend to be on the more expensive side, as they have more advanced hardware. This allows the device to perform some AI functionality itself, rather than relying on round trips of data to Microsoft's servers over the internet.

The thing is, most people are still getting to grips with Copilot itself. The idea that you'd need to spend the extra money to get a Copilot+ device - a technology that Microsoft itself hasn't really decided a use case for - is disingenuous bordering of false advertising. And as the author of a newsletter called "Let's talk tech Thursday" that has a 1-in-3 chance of being sent on a Friday, I know a little about false advertising.

On a slightly brighter note, the more intrepid Windows 10 users are looking to alternatives, and the Linux ecosystem is moving to respond. Historically the domain of ultra-nerds IT specialists, various iterations of the open source operating system have been developed specifically to make the jump to a free operating system almost seamless for die-hard Microsoft users. Campaigns like End of 10, and a no holds barred campaign from KDE - one of the most popular desktop environments for Linux - are really driving home the point that you don't need to throw out perfectly good hardware just because Microsoft tells you to.

If you're on Windows 10 and worried about the end of support, why not have a chat with me about it?

Any other news?

Reddit sues AI company Anthropic for allegedly ‘scraping’ user comments to train chatbot

Reddit is suing the AI company Anthropic for allegedly using bots to scrape user comments without permission to train its chatbot, Claude. Reddit has made agreements with other companies to allow them to use its content while protecting user privacy, but claims that Anthropic has not followed this process. This story is mostly funny because Anthropic was supposedly setup to be the ethical rival to the less than shiny OpenAI.

The Blackberry Keyboard: How An Open-Source Ecosystem Sprouts

It's not all doom and gloom in the tech world. Have you ever looked at your smartphone and lamented the long-lost days of physical keyboards? This Hackaday article explores the rich world of open-source hardware projects featuring Blackberry keyboards. The article itself flirts a little with the technical, but ultimately showcases a whole range of use cases - from distraction free devices, to retro games platforms. This collaborative effort showcases how open-source projects can foster innovation and build strong communities.

Microsoft will finally stop bugging Windows users about Edge — but only in Europe

As the EU's Digital Markets Act comes into play, Microsoft will be forced to stop bothering Windows users in Europe about using Edge as their default browser. Users can now uninstall Edge - a big deal as Edge (and Internet Explorer before it) were always claimed to be core to the Operating System. EU users can also remove Bing from search results and set other browsers as defaults without extra prompts.

That's it for another week.

I don't know about you, but it seems the more we hear stories about big tech looking out for the consumer (whether that's Apple fighting the UK courts, or this week's story about not settling for IMEI blocking), the more we hear about the same companies trying to extort us for every penny we have. The switch off of Windows 10 is, in particular, one of the stories I think we'll hear more and more about the closer we get to October. While I'm not naïve to the cost of maintaining an older operating system, I'm also not blind to the $3.5 trillion that Microsoft is worth.

At the same time though, with real traction growing in Right to Repair, and Free and Open Source Software making more and more waves, I'm hopeful that - in some places at least - consumers can still have options.

Have a great weekend, and I'll see you at some point next week.

Will